It’s a calculation that Mikel Arteta has clearly been thinking about ever since the final whistle blew on last season’s title race. Having come so close by racking up their second-highest ever points tally in the Premier League of 89, how many will they need this time to stop the Manchester City juggernaut?
“It won’t be enough,” is the Arsenal manager’s assessment ahead of their first game of the new campaign against Wolves on Saturday. “With the level we are competing with and every season is getting harder, we are going to have to improve again. I don’t know what perfect is but it has to be very close to the numbers that we’ve seen in recent years. We had a gathering together and the players were saying to me: ‘We’re going to be better, we’re going to do it, we want more.’ They are the ones driving that ambition, so that’s always positive.”
