Arteta’s side start their bid for a second successive English title against promoted Coventry in the opening game of the top-flight season on Friday. With Manchester City’s golden era potentially at an end after Pep Guardiola resigned at the end of last season, the stage is set for Arsenal to enjoy their own sustained period of success. For the first time in 22 years, the Gunners will begin a campaign as the Premier League’s preeminent force, a status Arteta is determined to maintain as he targets an Arsenal dynasty.
Mikel Arteta has warned Arsenal’s rivals that he plans to build the Premier League champions into the “best club in the world”.
Arteta is using that goal as a rallying cry for his team, with the pain of their Champions League final loss to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties last season adding further fuel to the Spaniard’s motivational fire. Winning the Champions League for the first time remains a burning desire for Arteta’s men, but their manager’s primary ambition is domestic supremacy. City finished seven points behind Arsenal last term and already seem further adrift on the evidence of their Community Shield debacle.
Coventry manager Frank Lampard could be forgiven for having a sleepless night or two as he ponders how to subdue Arsenal in his club’s first game in the top tier for 25 years.
