Arsenal news: William Saliba's blunt title race demand to team-mates as three stars called out

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Arsenal have the chance to return to the top of the Premier League table this Saturday. The Gunners were knocked off their perch by Manchester City in midweek following City’s win at Burnley .

It comes after a dismal run of form for Arsenal at a crucial point in the season which has blown the title race wide open with five games left to play . Mikel Arteta ’s men have suffered four losses in their last six games across all competitions, with the most damaging being last weekend’s 2-1 league defeat to City .

Yet, the elusive Premier League trophy is still within their grasp, with five wins from their next five fixtures giving them a great chance of winning the title for the first time since 2004.

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They take on Newcastle at home in a must win game on Saturday afternoon. Now, Mirror Football takes a look at two of the latest stories surrounding the north Londoners.

William Saliba says he and his Arsenal team-mates have to be ready to "die on the pitch" to achieve their goal of winning the Premier League this season. The central defender, widely regarded as the best in his position in the world , has finished second with the Gunners in three consecutive seasons.

The Frenchman has called for calm heads after a poor run of form but insists the north Londoners need to leave it all on the pitch to end the season with a trophy. Saliba told the official Arsenal website: "I think we need to be calm. We need to die on the pitch as well, because it's now.

"Now we have to go, and we need everyone: the supporters, the team, the staff, everyone, because we have to do it now. After that, it's too late. When the season is finished, it's too late; you have to start the next season. It's now. You have to give everything and die on the pitch.

"Last game we wanted to win, and we didn't. But it's not finished. Now we know what we have coming, and we know what we have to do if we want to win the league. We have to start on Saturday. We have good pressure with us because when you play football, you want to play these kinds of games. We're ready for that."

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Ian Wright has issued a plea to Piero Hincapie, Jurrien Timber and Gabriel Jesus to take control and aid their team-mates during this season’s run-in. The trio are the only current Arsenal players to have won league titles in recent years, meaning they are familiar with the high pressure of a title race and, more importantly, know how to get over the line.

That experience is crucial for the current crop of Arsenal players, who have regularly fallen short of silverware in recent seasons, leading critics and fans to question their mental strength. Club legend Wright insists Jesus, Hincapie and Timber can make all the difference by setting an example to their team-mates in the remaining games of the campaign.

The former striker said on The Overlap : "In the City game I thought we did enough. If we can play like that, even if we’re trying to creep over the line, we can probably do it.

"We’ve got to find the fight. We’ve got Piero Hincapie who has won the Bundesliga, we’ve got Gabriel Jesus and we’ve got Jurrien Timber who has won in Holland, three players who have seen it off.

"They need to step into that team and try to make them understand what it’s going to take to finish this off because everybody in there will be having doubts, there’s nothing wrong with that."

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