**Mikel Arteta**believes Arsenal can win the Premier League title after three successive second-place finishes.
Arteta, 43, leads Arsenal into their seventh season under his stewardship. A tenure that has seen theGunners rise from a club in crisis to a team fighting for silverware.
He said, *“Yes [Arsenal can win the **Premier League*], especially the consistency that we've shown in the last three years. The margins, we know how small they are, we know the competition as well has increased the level, with recruitment, with another year together and we're going to have to win.”
“A lot, too many! And it's getting stronger and stronger”, said Arteta when questioned on how many teams can win the top-flight this season.
“There are teams that maybe you don't put them on a piece of paper right now, but suddenly they will surprise everybody.”
“I think they will be better than last year”
Arsenal won four points from their two league ties against the Red Devils last season but ultimately fell to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. The Gunners were lucky to get a result from the away game and needed a Declan Rice stunner to avoid defeat.
United have strengthened after a poor 2024/25 campaign, and Arteta believes Ruben Amorim’s side will improve on a lowly 16th-place finish.
He said: “They will be different as well. The manager will have more time with them; they have a pre-season, they make some really good signings as well, like anybody else.
“I think they strengthened, and they will be better than last year, like the rest of the teams.”
“It's not just my opinion, it's all the staff and especially the players”
Martin Ødegaard had a campaign that fell below his high standards, but the former Real Madrid midfielder has retained the support from the Arsenal dressing room ahead of the new campaign.
(Credit: David Price/ Getty Images).
There were questions about whether the Gunners should elect a new captain, but Arteta quickly shut down those rumours.
He said: “Well, my opinion is clear. It's not just my opinion, it's all the staff and especially the players. I asked them to vote for the captain, and I got the result yesterday.”
*By a mile, by a big, big 100 marks, everybody's choosing the same person, which is Martin Ødegaard.”*
That is the clearest sign that you can have, how they feel about who has to be their captain to defend, improve and win the matches that we want to win. So there's no question about that.”
What matters the most is how these guys feel about who needs to lead them, how they feel comfortable, who's going to push them, who's going to give them support when it's happening,” concluded Arteta.
Arteta on Viktor Gyökeres’ potential involvement
Arsenal have had a busy summer transfer window, signing six players so far. The standout name amongst those arrivals is Viktor Gyökeres, who joined the club for around £60 million.
Gyökeres will be competing against the likes of Kai Havertz and the injured Gabriel Jesus for a starting place, but will he be ready to start against Man United?
“He's getting better and better every day”, said Arteta. “He's normally a really fit player. It's true that he hasn't trained so much with us. He had those two moments in games when he participated, and the feeling was very good, so let's see what we do on Sunday.
“It's [the competition for places] always good. I play with 11 players; there are going to be some players on the bench that are going to be used, some others that cannot be used, and some players that we're going to have to leave in the stands.”
Arsenal take on Manchester United from Old Trafford at 16:30 BST on Sunday in both sides’ first Premier League game of the season.