Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has challenged his team to concentrate on winning a football match and nothing more when they head to Newcastle for Sunday's Barclays Premier League finale.
The Gunners would secure a top-four finish with victory at St James' Park. Indeed, depending on Chelsea's result at home to Everton, they still have an outside chance of snatching third place and with it automatic entry into the Champions League - or even forcing an unprecedented play-off, set for May 26 at Villa Park, were the two clubs' overall statistics to finish equal.
"We know how to behave to win the games, so it's (about getting) that certainty from our long run and bringing that into our next game. It's as simple as that," the Arsenal manager said.
"It is a football match and recently we have shown that we can win these games. We will just continue to do what we did until now."
Arsenal deserve great credit for still being in contention to secure a top-four finish having dropped some seven points behind Tottenham, who are just a point behind the Gunners ahead of their clash with Sunderland, when they lost 2-1 at White Hart Lane on March 3.
It is a similar scenario to the end of last season, when victory at West Brom kept them in third place and would eventually see Spurs miss out on even the chance to play a Champions League qualifier when Chelsea went on to win the European Cup.
Wenger would rather have his men involved in such an all-or-nothing encounter than to just be going through the motions.
"The pressure is big, of course, but I always said the worst (thing) in my job is to play games without any pressure," said the Frenchman, whose side have not won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup.
"Sometimes you think it would be nice to have a game with no pressure, but when you have one you think, 'let's get it back, it's so boring'."What would be terrible would be to go to Newcastle and have nothing at stake for us.
"We have what we wanted, so let's just finish the job."
Source: PA
