Mikel Arteta said he would be depressed if he focused too much on Arsenal's recent record against the top clubs as he prepares his team for an FA Cup semi-final clash with Manchester City.

The Gunners head coach needs to rewrite recent history if Arsenal, who have won the trophy a record 13 times, are to beat holders City at Wembley on Saturday. Pep Guardiola's side have won the past seven meetings between the two sides. But after ending a similarly wretched run against Liverpool by beating the EPL champions 2-1 on Wednesday, Arteta is keen not to dwell on past results.

'Depressing trend'

Asked at his pre-match press conference if he was worried by the recent trend against City Arteta replied: "Yes. But if I look at the trends as well before we played Liverpool, with the calendar year or the last two calendar years that they've had, you get depressed." "What I need now is energy to transmit to my players, belief and it's the FA Cup—we have a lot of experience here and we have a history related to that. Let's go for it."