Mikel Arteta’s up for the fight

MIKEL ARTETA has told former club Everton they face a fight to the last at Arsenal tonight.

David Moyes’ men visit the Emirates knowing they have one final chance to finish in the top-four by winning to get to within a point of the Gunners.
Ex-Everton maestro Arteta insisted they will go into tonight’s game full of belief, boosted by Saturday’s last-gasp win over Norwich.
Arteta, 31, said: “It is a massive result for us. It doesn’t matter what happens, until the referee blows the final whistle we will never give up.
“We have a lot to play for, it is massive for us to get a Champions League spot and we have to keep fighting.
“We kept believing, keep creating chances and in the end we deserved to win.”
Michael Turner’s opener for the Canaries seemed to have derailed Arsenal’s quest for a top-four finish. Yet the never-say-die spirit of Arsene Wenger’s men shone as they fired three late goals to come from behind.
Victory lifted them to third spot, above Chelsea and bitter rivals Tottenham.
Boss Wenger has kept praising the character of his men to see the job through and the Norwich win was not the first time this season Arsenal found the mental strength to hit back.
They have won a massive 16 points in total after coming from behind to win or draw key games in the league.
And Arteta added: “It does boost our confidence to win in this manner because we know we can react when something bad happens.
“We had enough chances in the first half against Norwich to go in front and then suddenly the first chance they get, they score.
“With five minutes to go, you would hardly believe we would get three points but we did it.”
The Gunners did get a huge slice of luck as the leveller came from a wrongly-given corner. It then led to a penalty when Kei Kamara tugged Olivier Giroud.
Arteta converted and shortly after Giroud scrambled home the second before Lukas Podolski netted the third after getting an assist from Theo Walcott who was offside.
The Spanish midfielder added: “It was very tough because they didn’t have any chances and then they get a free-kick and score.
“The crowd got a bit nervous but we had the character to get back into it and win.”