Arteta looks to build Arsenal dynasty

Mikel Arteta has warned Arsenal's rivals that he plans to build the Premier League champion into the "best club in the world".

Arteta's side starts its bid for a second successive English title against newly promoted Coventry in the opening game of the top-flight season on Friday.

For the first time in 22 years, the Gunners will begin a campaign as the Premier League's preeminent force, a status Arteta is determined to maintain as he targets an Arsenal dynasty.

With Manchester City's golden era potentially at an end following the departure of Pep Guardiola at the end of last season, the stage is set for Arsenal to enjoy its own sustained period of success.

Guardiola won six Premier League titles and Arteta, who worked under the Spaniard at City before taking charge of Arsenal in 2019, has no qualms about challenging his players to emulate that dominant run.

"It's certainly the ambition of the club and the owners to be the best club in the world," he told Sky Sports this week.

"In order to do that, you need the best facilities, the best stadium, the best supporters, and you need the best squad and the best players in the world.

"That's what we try to build with the actual players that we have, and with the players that we want to sign to make the difference for Arsenal."

Arsenal hasn't won consecutive English titles since the 1930s, a feat that proved beyond even Arsene Wenger's 'Invincibles', who were the club's last champions before Arteta's men ended the drought.

Arteta is using that goal as a rallying cry for his team, with the pain of its Champions League final loss to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties last season adding further fuel to the Spaniard's motivational fire.

"It's very difficult. You have to raise the level from every angle," he said. "When I look into the eyes of my players, I see that fire, that desire and the will to be better every single day."

Winning the Champions League for the first time remains a burning desire for Arteta's men, but their manager's primary ambition is domestic supremacy.

Arsenal, installed as the bookmakers' favorite for the title, showed its hunger for silverware has not been sated by dispatching Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield on Sunday.

Bolstered by the arrival of Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle and Greek winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge, Arsenal looked more formidable than ever as it tore City to shreds.

Ominously for its rivals, Arteta isn't finished spending yet. The club is on the verge of tying up a deal for Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa and has also been linked with Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez.

Writing off the doubters

Coventry manager Frank Lampard could be forgiven for having a sleepless night or two as he ponders how to subdue Arsenal in his club's first game in the top tier for 25 years.

It is a conundrum that may well torment managers with far greater resources than Lampard this season.

Lampard led Coventry back into the top flight by winning the Championship last season, but his side has already been tipped as a favorite for relegation.

The former Chelsea and England star believes Coventry can defy the odds if it replicates the way in which Sunderland and Leeds avoided relegation last season, finishing seventh and 14th, respectively.

Lampard has been studying the astute manner in which Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris and Leeds manager Daniel Farke plotted their teams' survival bids.

"They've changed that rhetoric a little bit," Lampard told reporters on Wednesday. "Those stories are important for us to analyze, and we've looked a lot at those two specific teams. To see how they played gives us inspiration, but it will be us that manage to write that story for ourselves.

"We want to be confident in what we do, it's our job to set out the strategy for the boys game by game — and they deserve to be here."

Coventry has brought in seven new signings at a combined cost of over 120 million pounds ($163 million) in a bid to provide Lampard with better quality and depth in his squad.

"For teams who get promoted we know what the gap is, history tells you that," Lampard said.

"We knew we had work to do. We tried to strike the balance, working smartly and strategically in the window. We are stepping up a big level now and need competition both in training and game time.

"The rigors of the Premier League mean we've had to add players in different areas."

City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea all have major questions to answer before they can establish themselves as genuine contenders for Arsenal's crown.

Enzo Maresca has replaced Guardiola at City, while former Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola succeeds the sacked Arne Slot at Liverpool and Xabi Alonso takes charge of underachieving Chelsea.

City finished seven points behind Arsenal last term and already seems further adrift on the evidence of its Community Shield debacle.

Liverpool, which came fifth last season, and Chelsea, which finished 10th, will be hoping for much improved campaigns, but are both far from the finished article.

The same is true of United, which climbed to third under Michael Carrick last season, but has taken a surprisingly low-key approach in the transfer market.

As Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard says, the Gunners have the destiny of the title in their hands.

"This year we want more. We want to do it again in the league, and then there are the other trophies," he said.