Arteta: Arsenal are ´far from perfect´

Arsenal are “far from perfect”, despite their healthy leads in the Premier League and Champions League, so says Mikel Arteta.

The Gunners head into the weekend with a seven-point cushion at the top of the Premier League, albeit that could be cut to four points by the time they host Manchester United on Sunday.

They are also three points clear in the Champions League, with their midweek win over Inter meaning they are sure of their place in the top two of the 36-team standings.

Pep Guardiola labelled Arsenal as the clear standout team in England, and though they have a 93.1% chance of winning the Premier League title, according to Opta’s predictive model, Arteta warned that his team are not the finished product.

“I don’t know, I think we are the team that wants to be constantly better, we are doing a lot of things right, but we are far from perfect,” Arteta said.

“Our only aim is to sustain the level we are doing and try to improve again.

“We can see more of man-to-man game conquering not only the Premier League but Europe as well, so you need to dominate all the phases in the game if we want to have the chance to win major trophies.”

Sunday’s clash with United sees Arteta take on the team he has won eight of his 12 Premier League meetings with.

However, United’s caretaker boss Michael Carrick’s first and only Premier League victory in his previous stint in charge of Red Devils came against Arteta’s Arsenal – a 3-2 win at Old Trafford in December 2021.

Asked if Carrick was helped by knowing United inside out, Arteta said: “I don’t know, the feeling I have towards the club is unique, and that brings something extra.

“The fact that you know a lot of people is very beneficial, and understanding the history of the club from the inside. And then we have to acclimatise and adapt to the circumstances.

“Yes, with Michael coming in it’s going to bring new ideas, the intensity rises up, you could see in the Manchester derby with their behaviour and the game that they played. We expect a tough match but we will adapt to that for sure we are at home, and we know how important that is going to be for us.

“Every game is different, obviously, the individuals are the ones that make the difference and make the game in a certain way.

“We are going to be ourselves, be dominant like we always want to be, impose the game that we want to play and regardless of what they want to do, we want to take the game in the areas that are very good for us.”