DUBAI // Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal vice captain, played down their chances of pushing for the Premier League title next season.
The north London club broke their nine-year trophy drought on Saturday when they beat Hull City at Wembley to win the FA Cup.
The overdue success gave supporters hope they will be able to push for the league crown next season, having finished fourth this time around.
However, Arteta suggested it will be a tough task given the number of rival clubs who are likely to spend vast sums of money in the summer transfer market.
“I think everybody is going to start signing players like crazy in the summer,” said Arteta, who made an appearance at The Sevens yesterday.
“Now the problem is the competition you are facing with the other teams is not the same as you used to have 10 or 15 years ago, when it was probably just Arsenal and Manchester United.
“Next season, I would be surprised if, by February and March, a few managers in the top leagues are not sacked, because everybody is going to be expected to start winning and be in the Champions League.
“It is impossible, because you are facing six or seven top teams and their standards are going to go higher. I don’t think it is going to be any different for Arsenal.”
Before this week, Arsenal had not won a trophy since 2005, in the first year of a record-breaking sponsorship deal with Emirates Airlines.
It has been a fraught wait for a return to the winners podium in the meantime. When introducing Arteta at The Sevens, a spokesman for the airline said, “the best thing comes to those who wait.”
The club’s vice captain believes Saturday’s win could be the start of a sustained run of success for the north London club.
“We have done the difficult thing, which is the start,” Arteta said as he visited the airline headquarters in Dubai, along with the trophy he lifted at the weekend.
“It took us a long time to get it, but hopefully it will give us the confidence and the belief we needed to start to bring in more trophies and be at the top.
“That is where we want to be and where we want to belong as well. I think we have the structure at the club.
“We have a great team and the support we are getting as well is unbelievable. I think we have all the ingredients to go on now and play to a higher standard and deliver good things for the club.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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