Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal have made “big strides” towards reaching their goal of lifting the Premier League trophy this season.
The Gunners kick off their 2024/25 Premier League campaign on Saturday, hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers. They’ve waited over two decades to secure the league title, and will hope to knock reigning champions Manchester City off the top spot and claim the coveted trophy this season.
Arsenal boss Arteta is confident in his side’s ability and says his team have worked hard during the summer to end their trophy draught.
“We are also willing to do well and bring major trophies but it’s going to be about the journey and we have to think about the start where we want to be on day one,” the Catalan coach told Sky Sports. “I think we had a good pre-season, we made some big strides and we’re ready to go.
“To improve those numbers [last season’s results] it becomes really tricky, but this is the level that is required to win the Premier League. Every year is going to be harder so we have to better, we have to find margins in areas before that we haven’t explored and we all have to set new standards. If we do that we’re going to give ourselves a really good chance.
“There are certain areas of a team that you can always improve, you have to step back and just feel the temperature, feel what the team needs, what are we lacking.
“We’ve put a lot of things in place this summer to evolve the team to find a next level within this team to inspire players. I think the players have to come and see something new, something that is different. We have players that are so capable quality wise, they are so coachable, they really want it, they are young, they want to do it.”
Arsenal have so far signed Italy centre-back Riccardo Calafiori in the summer transfer window, but have otherwise not added new talent. Their first business of the window, however, came in the goalkeeping department when David Raya’s loan move from Brentford became permanent.
The Gunners continue to be linked with a move for Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino, but are yet to secure new signatures in attack.
