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Arsenal is in a tough position regarding how it handles this last phase of the year
Mikel Arteta's Arsenal side has been put through their paces over the past month as they fight to push Liverpool for the title and keep their Champions League campaign going.
With the league title being out of reach for the last month or so, the Gunners' focus has been on Europe, and rightly so and now the club is into the semi-finals against PSG.
But in getting there, Arteta hasn't put his full squad on display in the league and that has seen draws to Brentford and Crystal Palace, which means the chasing pack for the top four in Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle have all caught up.
The Gunners are now just six points ahead of City who sit third, seven ahead of Forest who have a game in hand, and eight ahead of Newcastle who also have a game in hand.
So if they win their games in hand, the gap will close dramatically and the last thing Arteta wants while he's trying to win the Champions League is to have the Gunners drop out of the top four due to poor performances.
Arsenal fighting two monster battles
The Gunners are still in a good position to claim a top four spot, and with four games left any win is going to be like gold for Arsenal, but with the Champions League also in the mind, Arteta, like he did against Brentford, might not field his strongest possible XI.
That leaves the Gunners open to dropping points and invites City, Forest and Newcastle into the conversation to overtake them.
Granted, it would need to be a serious drop off, but as we have seen with the Brentford and Palace games, it doesn't take much for teams to drop points when they aren't at their best, and the teams chasing Arsenal have no other commitments, it's all Premier League.
The Gunners have done well to still be second in the table after all the injuries suffered, but now we are getting to the pointy end of the year, and it is here where things tighten up.
The last thing Arteta wants is for his team to miss out on top four and be dumped out of the Champions League.