Spaniard Mikel Arterta has said no Arsenal player has reached his peak for the club since he took over in 2020
Arterta said this while speaking to ESPN on Saturday ahead Sunday’s crucial Premier league game against Brighton at Emirates Stadium.
Several Arsenal players have been impressive throughout this season – helping to put the Gunners in Premier League title contention, and guiding their side to securing Champions League qualification.
The Gunners currently sit a point behind Leaders Manchester City after having played a game more ahead of the Weekend’s fixtures.
“We are still very far. We can be much, much, much better at a lot of things still. Huge margins,” Arterta said after being asked by ESPN if the club has reached where he wants them.
“We can be much better in our build-up, attacking man-to-man situations, attacking open spaces, defending deep, set pieces, we have huge margins to do in terms of game management, a lot of things we can do still much better.
“We can be more ruthless to kill games. It’s a lot of things that we have to seek for improvement because we don’t have a single player who has reached his peak. Not one.
“And when that happens we as coaches have to be curious to understand: what can we do to get them better? And then generate those connections that I think we’ve done pretty well and keep developing them so they empower each other and they can take the game to a different level still.
“There are certain players as well that have to go to a different level in terms of their leadership, in terms of what they are able to transmit to the group and the responsibility and the accountability they have to take for what happens here every single day, and the demands and standards we want at the club. There is a lot to do.”
Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard finished second and third respectively in the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year Vote after impressive performances throughout the season while Gabriel Martinelli and Granit Xhaka have pulled up their socks this season, but according to Arterta, his side is only in phrase three of his rebuilding plan.
Before the season ends, Arsenal will play Brighton and Hove Albion, Nottingham Forrest and Wolves. They may need to win all those games and pray Manchester City drop points in their last four games in order to win their first title since 2004.
City are in pole position to win a treble this season as they are also still in UEFA Champions League and FA Cup final.
