Arteta warns that his young guns are only getting started

MIKEL ARTETA has told Arsenal’s rivals that not one of his players has reached their peak and this title-chasing team are ‘very far’ from their best.

The Spaniard revealed he has ideas and principles he has yet to implement as he tries to build lasting success at the Emirates. Arsenal sit a point off Premier League leaders Manchester City, who have a game in hand, ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Brighton. Arteta’s young side have made huge strides and could match the points tally of the Invincibles. But yesterday the manager insisted: ‘We are still very far (from where I want). We can be much, much, much better at a lot of things. Huge margins. ‘We can be better in our build-up, attacking man-to-man situations, open spaces, setpieces, defending deep, we have huge margins in terms of game management… We can be more ruthless to kill games. We don’t have a single player who has reached his peak. Not one. We as coaches must understand what we can do to get them better.’ Arteta had to compromise on his philosophy after taking over in 2019 but has built a team which may return to top spot if City slip up at Everton tomorrow.

And over the coming years, Arteta says that by ‘empowering each other’ his players can take their game to a ‘different level’. ‘There is a lot to do,’ he said. ‘There are certain players that have to go to a different level in terms of their leadership.’ Arsenal kept their title hopes alive with victory at Newcastle last Sunday, after Arteta used footage from Amazon’s All Or Nothing series to motivate his players. The manager had been avoiding watching the show but said: ‘I needed to watch it. I put on just a part of it, a minute and 46 seconds… in the summer I’m going to watch it all.’