WHEN it comes to trying to win the Premier League title, Mikel Arteta is adamant that less is more.

Arsenal had to put in a major shift last time out as they twice came from behind before finally eking out a 4-2 victory at Aston Villa in one of the games of the season.

Another topsy-turvy test is expected this Saturday when the Gunners travel to the King Power Stadium to take on Leicester City.

Arteta wants to see his side exert more control over the ball and be even more clinical in front of goal so that they don’t have to always work so hard to take three points.

“There are still a lot of things to improve and we have to be humble enough to see those things, recognise them, work on them because we cannot have those big margins,” said the Arsenal boss. “We don’t need to produce as much as we do in every single game to win matches. A smaller margin [of chances] should be enough to win in this league and we need to improve that.”

At Villa Park Arsenal twice found the back of the net beyond the 90th minute to seal the win, a resilience that brought a smile to Arteta’s face.

Explaining just what it will take to fend off title rivals Manchester City at the top of the table, the Spaniard added: “At some stage you’re going to have to win games in the 94th minute or the 96th minute. You’re going to have to score from set-plays, you’re going to have to score when you’re down to 10 men. It’s about winning in any context.

“We always talk about that, and against Villa we had a really difficult context, especially with what happened after five minutes [when Arsenal went a goal down]. The team showed a lot of emotional qualities which are needed to be up there. I’m really happy with that.”

One unwanted pattern that is emerging is defending teams doing whatever it takes to stop Bukayo Saka – even if that means kicking lumps out of the number seven. The winger was subject to a series of heavy challenges yet again at Villa Park, and Arteta says that it’s something Saka will have to get used to.

He said: “He’s fine, he got kicked quite a lot again [on Saturday], but he’s going to have to deal with that, not every week, but every three days. Sometimes in training as well. It’s his game – teams are not stupid and they want to stop him. We need to protect him.”

With games coming thick and fast, the good news for Gooners is that Arsenal’s injury worries are rapidly easing. Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson were both on the bench against Villa, while Thomas Partey is in contention to return this weekend. Gabriel Jesus is also closing in on a return.