What Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said about Sheffield United ahead of Sunday's Bramall Lane clash

The Blades go into the game 15 points adrift of safety and staring a return to the Championship in the face. But while their quality levels have varied wildly at points this season, their effort has largely not wavered.

And Arteta, whose side travel north without a win since mid-March’s derby victory over Spurs, said: “What they do every week, a team with a big compromise, a big commitment and they are fighting every single game, which is not easy for the opponent and we are going to face a difficult game again.

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“We have no time to prepare or recover, but we know what we are going to be facing.

“The way I see them every game, competing every game, is to win football matches, and I don’t see any difference from the Sheffield United from a few weeks ago under Chris [Wilder].

“We know we are going to go there to face a tough opponent and we don’t have time to prepare the match, but we will go there to win it.”

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Arsenal were denied victory in their Europa League clash with Slavia Prague yesterday, when Tomas Holes’ 90th-minute equaliser cancelled out Nicolas Pepe’s opener four minutes earlier.

“I wanted to see a reaction yesterday and I definitely saw that. I think we made much more than the result that we got, but at the end it is what it is and we have to show even more determination,” Arteta added.

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