Arteta urges Arsenal to embrace 'unprecedented' title opportunity

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta called for his side to embrace their "unprecedented" opportunity to clinch their first Premier League title since 2004.

The Gunners led the league as the top flight paused for the World Cup, and will return to action on Boxing Day when they host West Ham under the lights.

Their league-leading form has created an electric atmosphere at the Emirates, but Arteta insisted his side's title hopes were grounded in more than just the increasingly vocal expressions of optimism from supporters.

"It's not just a feeling, it's as well facts and the stats are supporting that the team is deserving to win games, which is especially my job," he told Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football.

"You know, I want the team to play a certain way, and the more consistent we are on that the more we are going to win.

"Unfortunately football you can shoot 30 times and concede one shot and you can lose 1-0, but I think in the long run you're going to be where you deserve to be and we have the confidence that we are on the right path, but as well we have all the red lights and alarms because what is coming in the second part of the season is something unprecedented and we need to be ready for it.

"There is excitement, and we should be excited and we should be embracing the opportunity that we have ahead of us understanding that we have to do much better a lot of things that we are already doing really, really well and that's it."

Arteta's starting XI has been the second-most consistent across the top flight, though he admitted an increasingly crowded fixture list will likely force him into more rotations.

He said: "That's something that obviously we are very aware of. The type of game that we've had to play in Europe