Soccer-Arteta’s Arsenal seek psychological lift against Liverpool

(Reuters) – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his side could get a psychological boost for their Premier League campaign by beating Liverpool and extending their lead over the Merseyside club to 14 points when the two clash on Sunday.

Arsenal, who have won seven of eight games, go into the weekend 11 points clear of Liverpool, who are ninth with just two wins from seven matches ahead of the game at the Emirates Stadium.

“The moment you get momentum and you are on a good run, and you can leave an opponent as far (behind) as possible, psychologically also it is very important,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.

Arteta urged his players to be fearless on the pitch, pointing to their performance in a 3-1 win over north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in their last league game.

“To win those matches, you really need to believe you can go there, win and compete against those teams and if you don’t have that component then you have fear,” Arteta added.

“Fear is the worst enemy, especially against the top teams, because this is what they use a lot of the time just to win football matches. You cannot go with any of that into Sunday’s game, the same as we didn’t when we played Spurs.”

(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)