Arteta targets Pep’s crown

Time flies when you’re a big club but you can’t win the championship.

Reconstruction never seems complete; transitions turn into droughts and, before you know it, years turn into decades.

It’s been more than two decades since Arsenal won the Premier League title and millennials and millennials have grown up wondering.

Liverpool were lost in the Atacama Desert for 30 years before regaining the crown.

Manchester United are still stumbling in their own Sahara since Fergie left and as for Spurs…

At least they’re good for a laugh – especially for the Gooners: their grandparents don’t remember 1961.

But, worryingly for Arsenal, the feeling that it might be about to happen is starting to become familiar. On the way, but not yet there.

It’s been like this for a few seasons.

Mikel Arteta’s early FA Cup win over Chelsea in 2020 proved to be a misstep and the 2020-21 campaign saw them finish eighth – their first outside Europe for 25 years.

Then came Amazon Prime’s “All or Nothing” season, in which they started with three straight losses but narrowly missed the top four.

In 2022-23 they led but faltered, being outclassed by Manchester City while last season, bolstered by Declan Rice and Kai Havertz, they gave City a scare.

And so here we are this season, where City are still there, motionless, implacable, imperious: the first club to win the league title four times in a row.

That said, what is more encouraging for Arsenal is that the sense of inevitability of another title for City has diminished slightly.

This is the final season of Pep Guardiola’s contract and one wonders if he will be as motivated for a fifth after making history with four.

You wonder whether the players will be, and you also suspect that Pep might prioritise Europe, where he has seriously underperformed with just one triumph in eight attempts.

The other elephant in the City dressing room is the 115 financial fair play charges against the club.

The Premier League has promised to address this over the course of the season. We can only speculate as to how this will play out and what effect it will have on the team on the pitch.

There will be all sorts of rumours: from Pep’s resignation, to relegation to the umpteenth division, to an exit without penalty.

But Arsenal must turn a deaf ear to all of this and ensure they are able to take advantage of whatever happens to their rivals.

At the moment, no one else seems capable of facing him. Liverpool are in the process of recruiting a new coach and putting together a whole team.

United have been hit hard by injuries just when things were looking better; Chelsea remain a basket case in the transfer market under a new boss.

Aston Villa have also been busy but have not improved noticeably and will have plenty to do as recruits in an elongated Champions League.

You can’t see Spurs or Newcastle being nearby.

But there are reasons to be optimistic for the Gooners, whatever City’s fate in court.

First there is Arteta himself, a true Pep clone who learned alongside the master.

He combines shrewd recruitment with astute tactics and is hugely popular at the club.

You get the feeling the players are really playing for him, but he has a ruthless side.

He committed to spending over £110million on Rice as a game-changing player and it almost worked in his first season.

He was right to say David Raya was a better keeper than Aaron Ramsdale and managed to extract £34million for fan favourite Emile Smith-Roe.

He might even think that a season-long injury to his third big signing of last year – Jurrien Timber – made the difference.

The versatile Dutch defender will be like a new signing this season, assuming he recovers from yet another knock.

Arteta’s perfectionist nature was demonstrated by the fact that he bolstered what is already the league’s stingiest defence with the £42million signing of Italian full-back Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna.

This willingness to spend big money is still hard for many Arsenal fans to accept because the ownership has not changed – but their approach has.

It is still Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE), owned by Stan Kroenke, who was not very popular with fans in his early days.

Keeping silent about a club in decline, he was the subject of protests and was nicknamed ‘Silent Stan’ for his reluctance to talk or spend at the end of the Wenger era.

Due to debts caused by the move to the new stadium, he did not exercise full control until 2018, but it was his son, Josh, who did the talking – and the spending.

One of the most acceptable faces of transatlantic property, he spends his father’s money like a true fan.

He worked with the Kroenke franchises, all of which won trophies in American sports.

But Josh Kroenke is a keen student of the game and has formed a fruitful partnership with Arteta and sporting director Edu.

This trio leads the football team and poses a threat to City’s hegemony.

There aren’t many weak points. In Martin Odegaard, Arsenal have their own Kevin de Bruyne, but they lack a Haaland.

They were nevertheless the top scorers last season, with goals coming from all areas of the pitch, including both full-backs.

With Rice as the figurehead, and goal threats on both sides in Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, they are not far from matching City man for man.

And if Arteta can keep Gabriel Jesus fit and get more goals from him, the Brazilian could finally realise his full potential.

If City make one misstep, it could be enough to cost them the title.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.