Arsenal host London rivals Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening, and the Gunners' boss Mikel Arteta has spoken in high praise of the Blues.

Mauricio Pochettino's side are currently languishing in ninth place in the Premier League table, a staggering 27 points worse off than Arsenal - who currently top the table.

Speaking to the media ahead of the game, Arteta insisted that Chelsea are far better than their league standing suggests.

He said: "[They have made] huge improvements. I think they deserve to be in a much higher position in the league, when you look at what they’ve done and what they’ve produced in games – they’ve reached a final, they’ve reached a semi-final, they could have been through.

"I think what Mauricio is doing is really impressive, so I’m sure that he’s going to get them there."

The Spaniard was also quizzed on whether he is surprised by Chelsea's league position, and he offered plenty of positives for the Blues to mull over.

"I think the journey of those clubs are very, very different. Nothing to compare in my opinion. It’s a huge admiration for Mauricio because I’ve known him since 23 years ago and I really wish him all the best," Arteta said.

"He’s an incredible manager, he’s a huge leader and he will inspire the club to get what they want to get, that’s for sure."

  • The message to the players

Arsenal beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 at Molineux last weekend, ending a two-game losing streak, which included their elimination from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Bayern Munich.

Despite this rollercoaster of results, Arteta has insisted that the message to his players has not changed.

He said: "[I am giving the] same messages. Keep doing what we’ve been doing, focus on the game, on the task, prepare the game really well.

"That’s what we’ve tried to do with the time we had available and the boys looked ready to go again."

Arteta also elaborated on the character that the squad are showing during a testing and relentless period.

"It was a good test to see how we reacted to certain obstacles and how much we want it basically and what we are capable of doing when the task raises the level of demands and some people are questioning," he said.

"It’s the moment that you have to step up and certainly the team did that."

  • Officiating

Arteta was also asked for his views on the current officiating situation in the Premier League, following Nottingham Forest's now-infamous tweet on Sunday, lambasting Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) decisions in their defeat against Everton.

Speaking specifically on the tweet, Arteta said: "I don’t know. I’m not involved in that. I’ve been involved in a few and that’s nothing for me to comment."

When asked about earlier calls for improvement to officiating in the country, he said: "I don’t know. I think we’re all trying to improve the game in the best possible way and we are all aligned.

"Things are going to happen, they will happen in the future as well and when it touches you it’s very difficult and you have to sympathise with that because we’ve all been there."

With refereeing becoming something of a theme for the press conference, Arteta was also asked if he believes that the referee appointment process is fair.

Arteta said: "I don’t know, we aren’t involved in that. I’m sure they’re doing whatever they think is the best solution, the best process and it’s constantly in review.

"Everything that we do is evolving and is in constant evolution. They will try to get it better and better and I’m certain that will happen."

  • The Wolves win

Arsenal's win against Wolves was a huge moment for their season, bringing an end to a two-game losing streak, and Arteta had his say on how big the win was.

He said: "In terms of size it was quite good. It really meant a lot to us. We are in a great position in the Premier League, we’ve been like this for nine months, nine and a half months, where we want really to give it a real go and be really determined to do what is in our hands to try to lift that trophy and tomorrow we’re going to have a very tough opponent in front of us and we will try to overcome that opponent again."