Mikel Arteta has revealed that he foresaw Arsenal to lift the Premier League title during their last home game of this season – and has called on his club to stimulate his team in the transfer star as part of a “very exciting summer”.
Arsenal takes on Newcastle on Super Sunday in their last home game of the season. The Gunners are 15 points behind the Premier League champions Liverpool and can even lose second place to the Magpies if they lose.
It was a completely different scenario than the Arsenal manager in August.
“At the start of the season, if I had to visualize that moment, it would play the last home game on the last day and lift the Premier League. That was what I had in mind,” he told James Savundra of Sky Sports in an exclusive interview.
“Now, with everything we have experienced in the last 11 months, I think we can all hold our heads, but still have that pain in the belly, because that is what we want to achieve.”
Arsenal has now gone five consecutive seasons without silverware, after they have been eliminated from the semi -final of the Champions League and Carabao Cup, while they were beaten by Manchester United on penalties from the third round of the FA Cup.
When asked what the main reasons for not achieving their goals this season, Arteta was very clear: “Red cards and injuries, certainly.” The Gunners have sustained more injuries this season than any other Premier League team, while their six shipping sacrifices are also a division high.
“But without that we don't know what would have happened,” added the Arsenal boss. 'Would we have been much closer? For me the answer is without question, yes. Because of what we produced and the versions we had.
“But we'll have to do something else [next season] Because the bar will be lifted.
“And if you look at the points we have had in the past three seasons, the consistency of not winning a title is very rare. So we are very close, in the likelihood, so much, we have to keep being there and be better.”
The Arsenal manager is further pushed on the statistics that cost Arsenal, said: “One number is availability. Without that, you have no chance to win anything.
“There are some other statistics that are very, very relevant to winning football matches – not only dominating, but to win them.
“But we are very clear about what our success brings and what we have to do than work on them, be more efficient and be better. The other is the capacity to change every three days and during the game match – that is where we have a big margin.”
More figures, replacing outputs and a new striker? Arteta about transfer plans
Talk soon continued to the transfer window and what Arsenal needs this season. Arteta believes that the Gunners need a larger team to compete with Liverpool next season.
The Arsenal manager also believes that from -contract stars – such as Thomas Partey and Jorginho – may have to be replaced, as well as recurring loan players such as Raheem Sterling and Neto.
In the meantime, the will of Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Jesus from Long injury are and have been having trouble making the start of next season.
“We definitely need that,” he said about summer signing sessions. “With the figures we started the season and [the numbers] To take care of next season, with the requirements we are going to have and especially with the players we have that come through long -term operations, it is very unrealistic [to deliver trophies].
“We know that, we have to tackle that and we will do everything to improve it.
“Especially because we are going to lose a lot of players. There are players without a contract, there are players who have come here on loan.
“So the team becomes really thin on top of the injuries we have. We know that we have that duty, that necessity and we have players in the academy that can help. Great, but if not we know what to do.”
Asked if a new center attacker is at the top of that transfer list, Arteta replied: “Everything that is in both boxes that makes you better, I think – at the end of the day – it is an important element. We all know that.”
Arteta and Berta are tailored to what is needed
Arteta has also promised a “very exciting summer” in North Londs and said that he and new sports director Andrea Berta are fully tailored to what is needed in the transfer market.
Former Atletico Madrid Transfer Chief Berta arrived in Arsenal in March and replaced former sports director Edu Gaspar who suddenly left the club in September.
“It will be a very exciting summer,” said Arteta. “First of all, assess what we have done. Investigate to increase the level of the team. Finding large margins where we can still develop our game model and our players, and then put together those plans, play the preseason.
“And if we don't have enough of that, then it's about what we have to recruit now to make the difference.”
Asked about the conversations he had with Berta, Arteta replied: “Since day one, when we interviewed for that role. And he had it for him, it was very clear that this is what this team should go to the next level. And we were very tuned.
“And you can see it – the experience he has, he has built great squadrons and the most important trophies he has won – someone with that clarity is very, very helpful.”
View Arsenal vs Newcastle live on Sky Sports Premier League this Super Sunday; kick -off at 4:30 PM
Sky Sports to show 215 Live PL games next season
From next season, the Premier League coverage of Sky Sports will increase from 128 games to at least 215 games that are exclusively live.
And 80 percent of all Premier League matches broadcast on television will be on Sky Sports next season.