Arsenal latest: Mikel Arteta receives stark warning as Premier League icon shares advice

Arsenal will be aiming to reach the Champions League semi-finals when they take on Sporting CP

Arsenal will be looking to maintain their aspirations of securing a Premier League and Champions League double when they take on Sporting CP on Wednesday evening. The Gunners welcome the Portuguese side to the Emirates Stadium for the second leg of their quarter-final tie.

Mikel Arteta's side possess a narrow 1-0 aggregate advantage following Kai Havertz's 91st-minute strike last week, which gave them the edge heading back to north London. The task now is preserving that lead across 90 minutes to progress to the semi-finals where either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid await.

Arsenal faltered in the Premier League at the weekend, suffering a 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth which enabled Manchester City to reduce their advantage at the summit. Arteta acknowledged the setback was a "big punch in the face," but called for a focus on Europe to rebuild momentum.

He said: "But I just want to focus on the things that we can control, dominate and we have done. It's not like we have to do a lot of new things that we haven't done, no, let's keep doing a lot of it.

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"We need to learn, we need to be very critical to ourselves, and then pick ourselves up, because on Wednesday we have a big one coming up."

Here, football.london has the latest emerging from the red half of north London.

Premier League champion offers advice

Rio Ferdinand has urged Arsenal to overhaul their approach ahead of their clash with City or risk being "get pumped." The Manchester United legend, a six-time Premier League champion, insists the Gunners cannot afford to adopt a defensive mindset and allow City to dictate proceedings at the Etihad Stadium.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand Presents, the former defender said: "If you go there and sit back like Liverpool did at PSG the other day, it's slapsville. You're getting pumped. You can't do that. Do you win leagues doing that?"

Ferdinand pointed to Bournemouth's triumph over Arsenal at the weekend, suggesting Arteta could draw valuable lessons from that setback ahead of their potentially title-defining encounter. He added: "This is glaring, the way City set up to block all passing lanes, pressing high.

"I don't think Bournemouth went four up the pitch as glaring in exactly the same way. They were great in terms of blocking passing lanes making Arsenal having to go over it or just panic a little bit and give the ball away.

"I think, is that the blueprint? Bournemouth have copied it their own way. Mikel Arteta and his team haven't found an answer yet. It wasn't a good performance. At least get about and put it on some players."

Ex-transfer target issues warning

Marc Guehi believes City possess the necessary qualities to "step up" and wrestle the title away from Arsenal. The centre-back chose Manchester in January following his £30million departure from Crystal Palace, despite attracting considerable interest from both Liverpool and Arsenal.

In the wake of their Carabao Cup triumph over the Gunners, Guehi confirmed that City have drawn significant confidence from their silverware success and are hungry for further glory.

He said: "In these moments it's about stepping up, the players stepping up, the team stepping up and I said it last week, it's about arriving at the right moment.

"I hope we're arriving. The trophy definitely gave us a lot of confidence. It doesn't matter what trophy it is, it's a trophy and it helps the football club so everyone is just focused on the next day, the next game and just try and be consistent as possible.

"Always, it always gives you belief and it does help everyone. We hope we can win more, that's the aim. That's the target."

The England international insisted his side are not monitoring the north London club's recent results, preferring instead to concentrate on their own strengths to carry them over the line.

Guehi added: "Like I said, the most important is controlling what we can control. We can't control what Arsenal did. We did our job and got the three points.

"I just want to play every game, it doesn't matter when, where or what type of game. I'm just glad to be at this football club and to be given the opportunity to do so."