Rob Holding urges Arsenal not to be distracted by crucial Tottenham derby, which Leeds will face first

Rob Holding has warned his Arsenal team-mates not to get distracted by next week’s Champions League game against Tottenham ahead of their meeting with Leeds.

Arsenal are currently fourth in the Premier League table, two points ahead of fifth-placed Spurs with four games left to play this season.

The rivals are set to go head-to-head for a week on Thursday (May 12) in what is being billed as one of the biggest north London derbies in recent history.

Holding admits Arsenal are aware that the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will have a big say in who qualifies for the Champions League, but the centre-back also urged his team-mates not to allow this to distract them on a visit to Leeds. Emirates on Sunday.

“We have to take it one game at a time,” Holding said Standard sport, when asked about the north London derby. “Obviously we’ve got Leeds at the weekend and that’s always an intense game.

“They come and bring energy. It will be a tough game but we are at home with the fans behind us and we can try to get three more points.

“Then next week on Thursday we have Tottenham so that’s what it will come down to and it should be a good game.”

Arsenal and Tottenham were locked in the top four and momentarily swapped places on Sunday after Spurs beat Leicester early on.

The Gunners responded by beating West Ham and have now won three games on the spin after initially losing the same number of games at the start of April.

Those wins came against Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham, with Holding partly leaving a change in favor of Arsenal supporters who stuck with the team through a difficult period.

“I think since Mikel (Arteta) came in, there’s been a big change in mentality and connecting with the fans,” he said. “I think the fans were fantastic again on Sunday and have been for the last couple of weeks in terms of the away games and the home games.

“That’s why our results have been decent since the three we lost. We retreated and they stayed close to us. It could have been an easy point to come back but they stuck with us and now we’ve had three good results.”