Arsenal's Title Defense: Arteta's Challenge to the Squad
Mikel Arteta has thrown down an early-season gauntlet to his Arsenal squad, demanding they show the hunger to defend their Premier League crown – and making it clear that Myles Lewis-Skelly will not be sacrificed to fund the push.
Arsenal open their campaign at home to Coventry on Friday night, stepping into a season that carries the weight of history. The club has not retained a league title since the 1930s. That drought hangs over everything.
The numbers say they should start strongly. Arsenal have won 17 of their last 18 matches against promoted sides. No newly promoted team has left the Emirates with three points since November 2010 – a 45-game streak that underlines just how ruthless they have become in these fixtures.
They also arrive buoyed by an eye-catching Community Shield win over Manchester City in Cardiff. Yet Arteta is refusing to let that performance become a comfort blanket.
“We need to breathe and we need to take this organically because it’s going to be a long marathon,” he said on the eve of the season. The message was clear: last year’s title is a reference point, not a resting place. “What we need to show is that desire and ambition to be better than what we were last season, a month ago, or a week ago when we played Man City. We have the ability to improve, to evolve, and that’s what I sense and I feel around the club and especially around the players.”
The challenge now is different. Arsenal are no longer the hunters. They are the standard.
Asked whether they start this campaign with a target on their backs, Arteta pushed the idea away – for now. “Today, no, because we start from scratch and we’re going to have to prove we have the level to go back to that position again,” he said. Then came the competitive edge that has driven his tenure. “But I think that happened in the last three seasons – at some point we were first, at some point we were chasing it, and you never know what’s better. You give me the choice, I want to be first, I want to be hunted, and I want to be in control of our future, rather than depending on somebody else.”
The pressure, then, is embraced rather than avoided. Arteta wants Arsenal at the front of the pack, daring the league to catch them.
Off the pitch, the club’s summer business has raised questions about how they will balance the books after the £75m signing of Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle. One of the most intriguing subplots has been the future of Lewis-Skelly.
It is understood the 19-year-old was offered to Manchester United and Chelsea earlier in the window as Arsenal explored ways to generate funds. The academy product has only strengthened his case to stay since then. He shone in midfield against City in Cardiff on Sunday, just as he did when starting the Champions League final last season against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arteta, for his part, left no room for ambiguity. He is “100%” confident Lewis-Skelly will remain an Arsenal player this window.
“The players that have been raised in our system, and they feel generally that love and that connection with the club, bring something else, there’s no question about that,” he said. “We need to look after them in a really special way because they bring value that is very difficult to find. That’s why, when we can, we want to protect those assets as much as possible, develop them and make them extremely important for the club.”
On the eve of a season that will test whether Arsenal can turn one title into an era, Arteta has drawn his lines: embrace the hunt, defend the crown, and build it around those who know the club best.
