Arsenal are determined to fight for all the trophies in the new season as the Premier League runners-up begin their 2023-24 campaign against three-time Community Shield winners Manchester City, manager Mikel Arteta said on Friday.
Last season Arsenal crumbled to relentless City, who won three consecutive Premier League titles before winning their first Champions League in June.
Arsenal enjoyed an eight-point lead over City until mid-March but lost it at the end of April and will seek revenge in the traditional Premier season curtain-raiser. League, Sunday at Wembley.
Arteta, 41, was Pep Guardiola’s assistant at City from 2016 to 2019 before taking charge of the north London club and leading it to the FA Cup trophy in its first season.
He has since helped Arsenal qualify for the Champions League for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign. Arteta said he wants his team to build on last season’s momentum and reach new heights.
“We are very excited about playing a final to win a trophy, we are playing against the team to beat,” Arteta told reporters.
“That’s what we want (a new era for Arsenal), to fight for every trophy. We have to prove it. What we did last year was not enough to win the big trophy, and we have to be better. We have to try to maintain the level and improve it for them (the fans).
Arsenal have already bolstered their young squad with the arrivals of Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber at the end of the season, but Arteta said the work was not done and he was looking to bolster his team’s chances .
Arsenal have recently been offered a bid for Brentford goalkeeper David Raya. “We are working on some things – there is still time to do it. We are happy with the squad we have, that’s for sure,” Arteta said.
