NOTHING LESS THAN TOP FOUR WILL DO FOR ARTETA

A LOT of excitement has been generated by Arsenal’s recent run, ended emphatically by Liverpool on Saturday. The positivity, however, overlooks a crucial issue: this should be their transformative season. Think Leicester in 2015-16 or Chelsea under Antonio Conte the following year. Those teams won titles in seasons when they were unencumbered by commitments to European football. Leicester had considerable difficulties compared to their elite rivals, but their one advantage was that, once removed from the FA Cup by Tottenham on January 20, they could focus entirely on the Premier League. No midweek commitments across the continent for them, no concerns for Claudio Ranieri about resting players. He remains known as the Tinkerman, yet barely touched that Leicester team in the second part of the year. Changes were for injury alone and Ranieri’s starting XI can be recited as confidently as Brian Clough’s for Nottingham Forest close to 40 years earlier. Ranieri played a weekend game and then prepared for his next one in seven days’ time. The schedule was a vital contributor to Leicester’s success. Conte’s, too. Chelsea got to the FA Cup final in 2017, so there was one distraction, but none of their ties went to a replay or even extra-time, so again the coach was able to throw his focus into the league campaign. In one way, then, Mikel Arteta (left) is fortunate. In a week

like this, Arsenal fall off the radar. Teams around them are travelling to Villarreal, Vienna and Murska Sobota in Slovenia; others are preparing to face Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Legia Warsaw. Arsenal were well beaten at Anfield but the moment the final whistle blew, Arteta could focus on beating Newcastle at home, at 12.30pm the following Saturday. So while many are happy with the current fifth place given Arsenal’s start, it isn’t good enough. In 2015-16, when Liverpool finished eighth and out of the European places, Jurgen Klopp used the following campaign to clinch fourth and the club has never been outside the Champions League since. It was the start of the era which brought the first Premier League title and another Champions League win. Arsenal are some way off that yet. But with clarity of purpose, they should not see anything below a top-four finish as positive.