Arsenal, who are chasing a first Premier League title in two decades, will have to be close to perfect if they are to dethrone current champions Manchester City in the season ahead, opined head coach Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal missed out on the title to City in the two previous seasons as the London side were beaten to the punch by Pep Guardiola’s City, who clinched an unprecedented fourth PL title in a row in the 2023-24 season.
Arteta remains confident of taking his beloved Arsenal to the promised land, but is aware that his side would have to push the boundaries time and again if they are to challenge for the PL crown.
“Break more of those records again, earn more points, for sure,” Arteta said ahead of the PL opener.
Arsenal earned 89 points to come in second, only behind City, who seized the title with their 91-point tally.
“It (89 points) won’t be enough. With the level we are competing with and every season is getting harder, we are going to have to improve again,” the Spaniard said.
“I don’t know what perfect is but it has to be very close to the numbers that we’ve seen in recent years,” he added.
Despite missing out on the elusive PL crown, Arteta took heart from the manner in which his players approach the season.
“We had a gathering together with all the club players and the players were saying to me, ‘We’re going to be better, we’re going to do it, we want more’,” Arteta said.
“They are the ones driving that ambition, so that’s always positive,” he continued.
“It’s like you’re trying to climb the highest mountain, the most difficult leap in the world and you’re surrounded by people trying to achieve the same ambition. We’re certainly going to try,” he explained.
Arsenal roped in Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna, while talks of the arrival of Spaniard Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad are rife.
While leaving the discussion pertaining to more incoming transfers open, Arteta refused to comment on the speculation surrounding Euro 2024 winner Merino and outlined the two objectives he had in mind at the end of the previous season.
“You know that I cannot talk about any other player,” the 42-year-old said.
“After the season we had two objectives. The main one and the most important one is to make sure that we still are very much in love with our players and find ways to improve them,” the Spaniard added.
“Then ok, if there are certain opportunities in the market to improve the squad we have to look at that,” he continued.
“While the market is open, things can happen. That’s always a possibility,” he concluded.