Mikel Arteta said eight keywords that really stood out during his press conference ahead of the game with Fulham at the weekend. He elaborated on them, but the eight words stood tall on their own.
"We want to be the kings of everything," he said. It was in response to a question about being the set-piece kings, after scoring twice from corners against Manchester United to take their set-piece goals tally to six for the season.
Nicolas Jover has been lauded for his work as the Gunners' set-piece coach and he has made them extremely hard to defend against when it comes to corners and free-kicks around the 18-yard box. They look dangerous every time they get a chance to deliver from a deadball situation.
Arsenal have come close to winning the Premier League in each of the last two seasons. They were five points adrift of Manchester City in 2022/23 and then two points behind the same opponents last season.
Now, chasing Liverpool, they may come up short once more, given the gap to the Reds is seven points, but if ever anyone needed proof Arteta was the man to lead the Gunners to glory eventually, it was shown in those eight words.
Arteta has an elite mentality. He knows what he wants, he seems to know how to get it and at some point, sooner or later it will happen.
"We want to be the kings of everything - set-pieces, the best in the world; high press, the best in the world; in open spaces, the best in the world.
"We want the best atmosphere in the stadium and the best at everything. Before it was 'we didn’t score enough', 'we were soft at defending', 'we didn’t have mentality', 'we were not physical enough', 'we didn’t beat big teams away from home for 17 years, 20 years, 22 years'.
"We want to be the best at everything. We want to have the best academy, be the best at player development, recruit the best players, best coaches. That’s the aim."
They already have some of the best players in the world. Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, William Saliba, Martin Odegaard - they are all being talked about in those circles. Arteta is well on the way to becoming one of the best coaches in the world - more silverware will help with that argument.
As he said, Arsenal have been questioned in the past and called soft in the past. That is no longer the case and Arteta's desire and mentality cannot be questioned.