Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has paid tribute to Arsene Wenger ahead of tonight's clash with Crystal Palace.

Arsenal now sit fifth in the Premier League and level on points with Tottenham after being leapfrogged by their rivals following Spurs' 5-1 drubbing of Newcastle yesterday, though they can regain fourth spot by avoiding defeat at Crystal Palace tonight.

“I think the overall feeling for what Arsene did is exceptional. It's excellent," said Arteta. “I don't think anybody would say it was good or okay. What he did to this football club is to transform it from the bottom to the top, and do it for many, many years. I don't think anybody underestimated what he did.

“It (the top-four race now) is very different. The position is different. I think the context is very different. The team that were involved in that race, or what we were assuming at the start of the season would be, is probably different.

“Nothing changed. When I played here, I played to win the Premier League. I never played to say: 'Can we finish fourth this year?'

“I never had that mentality and Arsene never installed that mentality around the club - and it's no different to what we want to do now."