Thierry Henry tells Mikel Arteta 'it's easy to talk' as Man City vs Arsenal warning fired

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has fired a warning at Mikel Arteta as the Gunners prepare for a mouthwatering trip to Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend

Thierry Henry has told Mikel Arteta that Arsenal cannot afford a repeat of their performance against Sporting CP if they want to get a positive result at Manchester City on Sunday.

The Gunners secured their spot in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday after playing out a goalless draw against Sporting at the Emirates Stadium. But it wasn't a convincing display from Arteta's side, who held a 1-0 lead from the first leg in Lisbon last week, as they registered just ONE shot on target in the return fixture.

Next up for Arsenal is a top-of-the-table trip to Manchester City on Sunday as the Gunners look to extend their lead at the summit of the Premier League. Arteta's side go into the game at the Etihad Stadium six points clear of City, who do boast a game in hand and beat the Gunners 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final last month.

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It's poised to be a gigantic afternoon in the race for the title and Henry has warned Arteta that Arsenal must improve their performance levels against City.

"I want to see that fire at the Etihad," Henry said on CBS Sports. "That's what I want to see, it's easy to talk, go there, at Man City, and deliver.

"I believe in what I see though, I believe in him Arteta, 'the fire', but when you talk like that you have to do it then. I didn't see that tonight.

"We are through, so happy, semi-final, I never won it, but I won the league though, go and win at Man City, I want to see that fire there, I believe Mikel, yes, but show it."

When asked how he would approach the trip to City, Henry replied: "Not like tonight, or against Bournemouth, or Brighton away, or Mansfield, or everything that I've seen this season."

Henry was then asked whether the performance against Sporting would be enough to get maximum points against City, and he replied by laughing and commenting: "The Man City I've seen recently? We're talking about the team that won four in a row, Liverpool came in between that if not it would have been more.

"I do believe, I've been saying since the beginning of the season, this year I do believe we can win the league, this is the biggest chance in your life just to prove to yourself, as a team, that we can.

"And then people will not talk about the word they want to use that I do not want to use. I do believe personally but I am sitting in a chair for CBS, there's nothing I can do. Now I heard 'fire', I want to see that fire at the Etihad.

"If you have the face of Declan Rice go back to that, at the end of the game I stayed with his face, you had a lot of guys smiling but his face… I don't know, maybe I need to speak to him to know what he had in his head. This is a guy who just went through to the semi-final of the Champions League.

"There's no positive or negative here. We are in a semi-final of a Champions League, well done, that didn't happen a lot in history so obviously I'm over the moon. But City… I want the team to win there, not draw, statement."

Arsenal go into the trip to City off the back of a run that has seen them win just one of their last five matches across all competitions. Last time out in the Premier League the Gunners were beaten 2-1 against Bournemouth.