Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has warned his underperforming players not to hide under the uncertainty surrounding his future at the club.
The Frenchman has not confirmed if he will leave the Emirates when his current deal expires this summer, or he will sign the two-year deal on the table and stay.
Arsenal are currently six points off fourth placed Liverpool ahead of the City game and are in serious danger of missing out on a Champions League place.
They host Manchester City this Sunday and Wenger has told his squad to man up.
“Being professional is to perform on the football pitch and not to find escape in excuses where I think there are not,” he said on Thursday.
“Results are not going the way we want, but we have to make sure that the priority for us is what happens on the pitch.
“I agree that at West Brom [where Arsenal were poor in losing 3-1 in their final game before the international break] we had blind possession – we had 70 per cent possession going nowhere. There was something missing.
“I want the players to focus on their job. Their job is to perform and for me [it is] to help them to perform and to develop as players. That is, for me, what matters, really.
“What really matters at the moment is to stick tighter and show that we care about the end of our season, about this club and about our values that we stand up for.
“It is in difficult periods that you see the difference in quality between people.”
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