Arsenal's Ambition: Back-to-Back Premier League Titles Under Arteta

Mikel Arteta has thrown down the gauntlet before a ball has even been kicked. Arsenal are champions again after 22 long years, and he has no interest in basking in that achievement. He wants something the club has never done: win the Premier League title back to back.

Only a select group of managers have ever managed it. Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola – names that define an era. Arteta wants Arsenal’s name, and his, in that company.

“I’m very excited. We already have some dreams about the competition again with the Community Shield. It’s a new season, new expectations,” he told talkSPORT. “We have the opportunity to do something we haven't done before at this football club, to win it back to back and that is the ambition. It’s not personal, it’s the collective ambition that we have and the ambition of the club. It's a beautiful challenge.”

Life after Pep – and a new landscape

The Premier League Arteta walks into this season is not the same one he conquered. Guardiola has stepped away from Manchester City after a decade of domination, a period that defined the title race and shaped everyone else’s standards.

For Arteta, who sat beside Guardiola as his assistant before striking out on his own at Arsenal, the change is more than just a different face in the opposite dugout.

“It was different,” he admitted. “Obviously I know Enzo [Maresca] really well but obviously the relationship I built with Pep when we were with each other. The amount of headaches and sweats he has provided to me over the last six or seven years to try to catch their level. He’s been an absolute inspiration, he's left a mark on this league forever and he made all of us better.”

The shadow Guardiola cast over English football pushed Arsenal to raise their game. Now, with City entering a new era under Maresca, the champions sense an opening – but also a fresh kind of uncertainty.

Guimaraes in, questions in attack

Arsenal have already made a major statement off the pitch. The £75 million signing of Bruno Guimaraes signals a squad being sharpened, not broken up, after winning the title. Arteta has his midfield general, a player to control games when the pressure tightens.

The picture is less settled further forward. Leandro Trossard has gone, leaving a gap in the attacking rotation. Gabriel Martinelli’s long-term future still hangs in the air. Arsenal are weighing up their options in the final third and have been linked with several high-profile names, including Bradley Barcola, who has also attracted interest from Liverpool.

Arteta will not spell out targets, but he is clear about the club’s stance.

“When we show ambition at the club it has to come from the very top and I think the ownership has been very supportive with everything we are doing at the club,” he said. “The motivation is always there to be better. If we can identify the talent to make us better then we have to do it but we have to focus on what we have in house to make sure they evolve, grow and be better.”

The message is blunt: Arsenal will move if the right player appears, but no one inside the dressing room should feel their place is secure without improvement.

“You can see how crazy and unpredictable the league is. It's better not to talk too much, be prepared, be open and hopefully we can wrap up the transfer window in a really positive way.”

The title is back in north London. The real test, the one Arsenal have never passed, starts now.