Via BBC SPORTS:
Finally, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was asked about the title race and when he feels it begins: “For you, in pre-season already. For me, it’s the first day of pre-season just trying to prepare the team and individuals in the best possible way because it is going to be so long.”
On whether the players talk about it: “We have to focus on the journey and what we have to do every single day. Of course we want to win it and the preparation is towards that, great. All the protocols, processes, ambitions and everything and now you have to focus on what you have to do, otherwise you get distracted and I don’t want any of that around the team.”
On how the team have kicked on from finishing second several times: “Because at the end you learn that the margins to win it or not are multiple. It could be that the opposition player is one against one against a keeper – he scores and you are champion or the keeper saves it and you are not champion. It could be injuries, it could be decisions, it could be a mistake of mine. It could be that many factors that we cannot control. What we can control is what we do the best, that’s it.
“A lot of factors have to go your way. You can do a lot of great things and still a lot of things have to go your way. Personal lives have to be perfect. There is so many things and there is still so long. We have seen already the turnaround in the league and the Champions League is the same. We are in a very specific context at the moment, so let’s focus day by day.”