Mikel Arteta became Arsenal’s manager late last year after the Gunners made a poor start to the season under Unai Emery.
The Spaniard walked into a huge rebuilding job even though Arsenal has already spent over £100 million in the summer on the likes of Nicolas Pepe and Kieran Tierney.
Despite their summer business, Arsenal has fallen behind the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City.
Manchester United and Chelsea have also been strengthening their team lately, and next season’s title and top four battle promises to be one of the most competitive in recent seasons.
Arteta has urged the Gunners to close the gap on their rivals after name-checking the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Wolves and Leicester City who are strengthening their team.
He said as quoted by The Sun: “It looks like (Liverpool and Man City) at the moment and what happened in the table for the last two or three years suggests that.
“But things change very quickly. Look how Liverpool have evolved in the last four or five years.
“Man United as well is looking really strong at the moment.
“They are making a lot of good decisions. Leicester the same, Wolves with the season they are having.
“It’s going to be a challenge but that gap has to be closed.
“For us, the margin that we have for improvement is still very, very big.
“We don’t know how the market is going to be. We are pulling different plans together to see what we are going to be able to do.
“At the moment the uncertainty is still big. The way we are going to finish the season will dictate a lot of things financially as well.
“We have to be a bit patient and see what happens. We’re seeing different things.
“The way Chelsea is dealing with the market is different to the rest at the moment, but Bayern Munich are also being really aggressive.
“If you ask me, we cannot be a team that has to sell its best player to try to bring in and improve our squad, that’s for sure.”
Arteta has signed Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares since he joined the Gunners and he will look to add more quality players to his team this summer.
