Jurrien Timber explains how Arsenal will approach Man City game after title criticism

Jurrien Timber says Arsenal will travel to Manchester City on Sunday determined to win rather than play for a draw.

The Gunners have not won at the Etihad in nine years and last season’s fixture served up a dud as City eventually edged out Mikel Arteta's side in the title race. But after being accused on that occasion of setting out to take a point rather than attempt to win, the defender insists their intention is always to go out on attack.

“We always go everywhere with the intention of [getting] three points,” Timber told Bein Sports after Sunday’s win at Tottenham.

“It wasn’t our intention to go for a draw there [last season]. I wasn’t there, obviously, but I know how this team thinks - and we go everywhere for a win.

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“Obviously during the game, like two weeks ago against Brighton when you receive a red card, sometimes you cannot win. But, everywhere we go, we go to win.”

Arsenal must also face Atalanta away in their opening Champions League fixture on Thursday night and Timber added: “It’s going to be a big week.

“It’s nice to start it like this after the international break, but we have got to take it game by game. On Thursday we have the Champions League and we will be ready in Italy.”

Gabriel scored the only goal away to Tottenham in a fixture where key midfielders Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard were among the absentees.

And with a defensive solidity on show, Timber said Arsenal proved they can triumph over a dose of adversity.

“Not only them [Odegaard and Rice], but we were missing even more players, so we knew it was going to be a tough match anyway,” said Timber.

“With any adversity, it is still a matter of winning these tough away games and we did that. It felt really good. We were really happy in the dressing room because it was a tough match and we got it over the line.

“I think we are working a lot on defending, together with the whole team, and we showed it again today with a clean sheet. If you keep a clean sheet and you create chances, you have a big chance of winning. That’s why we won.”

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