Mikel Arteta has insisted Arsenal will strike gold if they “keep digging” as they start their push to win a first Premier League title since 2004 with a trip to Manchester United on Sunday.
In May, Arsenal completed a run of finishing second in three successive Premier League campaigns – matching the club’s record from 1998-99 to 2000-01, before winning the title in 2001-02. They have spent almost £200m on players this summer. Viktor Gyökeres is expected to lead the line against United and the midfielder Martín Zubimendi is also likely to make his debut.
Arteta’s side face a tricky run, with a trip to the champions, Liverpool, in their third match, before they face Manchester City at home on 21 September. But the Arsenal manager insisted they could draw on their previous experience to get over the line.
“You keep digging, digging, digging and you have to be digging because one day the gold is going to be there,” he said. “That’s all the time. When I’ve been taught, when I’ve been educated, that’s it. For three seasons we’ve had more points than any other team in this league, which is incredible. That’s how you have all the consistency. Now we have to do it in a season to have one more point or the same amount of points and more goals different than any other team. That’s the objective.”
City have actually accumulated four more points than Arsenal’s 247 over the past three seasons. Those clubs have spent similar gross amounts this summer but Liverpool have outstripped them and could add to their squad. Arteta confirmed Arsenal were also looking to bring in more players amid interest in Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze but believes they are capable of competing regardless.
“I think we have great versatility, very different qualities in relation to the opposition as well,” he said. “We can manipulate that and have some great cohesion within those units so we are very happy with that.”
The form of Martin Ødegaard will be crucial after he endured a testing season that yielded only three goals and eight assists in the league. Arteta said that despite suggestions from Tony Adams – who led Arsenal to the Double in 2002 – that Declan Rice should take over the captaincy, the Norwegian was the almost unanimous choice in a vote conducted this week by his staff and the rest of the players.
“My opinion is clear and it’s not just my opinion, it’s all the staff and especially the players,” he said.
