Mikel Arteta Warns Arne Slot About The Challenges Awaiting Him At Liverpool

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has welcomed new Liverpool boss, Arne Slot to the Premier League but hinted at the challenge that lies ahead of the Dutchman filling the “unprecedented” shoes of Anfield predecessor Jurgen Klopp.

After his successful tenure with Feyenoord, Slot was selected to succeed Klopp at Liverpool, who had just experienced their most successful period since the 1980s.

“I don’t know [if Slot will change anything],” Arteta told ESPN.

“That’s a question for him and the people that have decided to come here. Welcome to the Premier League. I think he is an exceptional coach.

“It is a bit sad to see Jurgen leave because what he has brought to the league, I think, is something unprecedented with his charisma, his way of playing, and the moments he has created.”

It remains to be seen if Liverpool, under Slot’s leadership in his first season, can narrow the gap that has emerged with Manchester City since 2022. However, Arsenal is strongly anticipated to be a contender once again as we approach the latter stages of the 2024/25 season.

The Gunners finished with 89 points in the Premier League last season, which would have been enough to win the title in many other campaigns including 2022/23 on goal difference.

Under Pep Guardiola, Manchester City, where Arteta served on the coaching staff for many years, has established a new benchmark in English football. This success has inspired the Arsenal manager to strive for perfection in the future.

“One-hundred-and-fourteen [the maximum points available] wins it and then you start from there,” he explained. “You know that the margins are small and tight and the competition is going to be even harder than the previous season. You go game-by-game, earn the right to win every game, that’s all we can think of, and try to improve our players. And make them believe they can do it because now they are good enough to do it.”

Arteta admits Arsenal ‘should have won’ the Premier League

Arteta has reflected on his side falling short and said the statistics suggest Arsenal should have ended the season as champions.

“When you are analytical and you gather all the stats and everything the team has done over the past 11 months in the Premier League, we should have won it,” the Spaniard told ESPN.

“That’s what the stats say. The reality is that we didn’t so there is something that is there that we haven’t managed as well as Man City or other clubs in the past. I think we understand where those margins are.

“I think we have come very far. We have been consistent now in the past 24 months in terms of performance and the levels that we want to hit. But those margins are super small. One thing is to get the 90% that we want and, the 10%, 5%, 1% is what defines success and winning major trophies.

“Now we have to continue to do all the right things that we are doing and just make those small margins that are going to be able to win the tournaments.”

Arteta was asked where he felt his side lost the title race, with a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa in April putting the North Londoners two points behind Manchester City with six games to play.

“The small margins, we have the game against Villa and when you look at the expected goals of what we generate just throughout the game, we should win it, but we don’t. So efficiency in the box was a dictator of success when we are so dominant like we are right now in many games.

“You have decisions as well. They are not in your hands and they can take a point two points or three points away from you and that can decide the title. In the end, we are going to have to be so good that our worst version is going to have to be much better than the best version of the opponent.

“This is what we are going to try to do and to do that we are going to have to dominate a lot of things that are going to be difficult to identify with your eyes when you watch a football match. I’ll leave it there.”

Arteta added that he hopes to use last season’s disappointment as motivation for the new campaign as Arsenal look to win a first Premier League title in 21 years.

“I don’t want to get over it. I am really satisfied with the way the team is performing, the way the players are evolving, what the team transmits, and the momentum we have as a football club. In all departments, not only on the men’s side but the women’s side, what we are doing with the academy, the prospects that we have there. But we need that pain and that hunger to achieve what we want to achieve because the competition is unbelievable and we are going to need everybody feeling that way to achieve it.”