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Mikel Arteta fired a warning to Manchester City by insisting Arsenal are “still far” from their full potential.
Arsenal have pushed City all the way during the last two campaigns and missed out on the title by just two points last season.
The Gunners were able to register more wins than ever before in the Premier League, achieve the club’s second-best points total and break numerous other records.
It still failed to end a 20-year wait for another league crown but Arteta feels there is plenty of growth in a squad which has been boosted by the summer arrival of Riccardo Calafiori and the return to fitness of Jurrien Timber.
Arteta claimed: “I don’t see that we are close to that full potential. We are still far.
“The only thing we can ask of ourselves is to be the best version of ourselves and maximise that potential. The rest is not in our hands.
“Can I do the best every day of my capabilities at the service of the team and can I be consistent in any context?
“That’s what we can do. We do that, then we are a great team, to achieve what? Let’s see, depending on what others do.
“I think it is going to be a really, really competitive league.”
City’s recent dominance has played out amid the backdrop of 115 charges from the Premier League hanging over them.
It is a long-running case which should reach a conclusion before the end of the season but Arteta declined to comment.
“It is nothing to do with us,” Arteta insisted.
The Arsenal boss was more forthcoming about where he can improve ahead of Saturday’s visit of Wolves.
Bayer Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso described Arteta as a “competitive animal” after a recent pre-season friendly.
Everything I do, I try to win. I try to do it at my best— Mikel Arteta
And Arteta laughed, adding: “Yeah, I love it. Everything I do, I try to win. I try to do it at my best.
“I am happier afterwards, I feel fulfilled. If I am not able to do it, obviously I try to learn from it and apply things that will get me closer to doing that. That is the way I am.
“Obviously if you see no margins and you see ‘OK I cannot really squeeze the lemon, there is nothing there’ then maybe one day but at the moment I don’t see it that way at all. And the first one is me.
“I think you can evolve a lot. If I see what I used to do, what I do, how I see certain things and deal with certain things, I have to improve a lot.”
