LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) - Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta dismissed suggestions the Premier League leaders have adopted a siege mentality amid mounting pressure, saying on Friday that the squad's focus remains firmly on their own performances rather than outside noise.
Arsenal sit seven points clear of Manchester City, who have a game in hand, and the North London side's dreams of an unprecedented quadruple are still alive.
"You just have to go in that dressing room and feel the mood, the energy and the way we talk to each other and how much we value the position that we have right now," Arteta told reporters ahead of Saturday's home game against Everton.
"So our focus is on what we have to do, what we have to maintain and what we have to improve together."
ARSENAL'S QUADRUPLE QUESTION
Arsenal are in the League Cup final, the FA Cup quarter-finals and the last 16 of the Champions League, where they came away with a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg on Wednesday.
With Arsenal set to compete across three different competitions in the span of a week, Arteta acknowledged the quadruple question is impossible to ignore entirely.
"Not think about it? Not really. We're going to play in seven days in three different competitions," he said.
"So that drags you from one to another, the urgency to get prepared, to translate the messages that you want, to make the right decisions and to make sure that we arrive into any game in the best possible way.
"The rest is a consequence of that process and how well we do it, which is still very far."
SAKA SCRUTINY
Bukayo Saka's performances have come under scrutiny after the Arsenal winger scored just three goals since the November international break, but Arteta opted to lavish praise on the 24-year-old.
"We fully trust him and love him. What he's doing for us, for this club, is just incredible at his age and he's continued to have that massive impact for us," Arteta said.
"He can have an individual performance that is not probably a reflection of his level, like every human, every player in the world. But overall when you look at his strength and the impulse he has in the team, it's just incredible."
On the injury front, Arteta said there were no new concerns and they will take late calls on Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
