'We knew!' - Mikel Arteta admits he was wary Arsenal would fail in title challenge after purposely leaving squad 'super short' last summer

After Liverpool romped to the Premier League title late last month, Arsenal boss Arteta has admitted his squad did not have the right "ingredients" to challenge Arne Slot's men. The Spaniard added that the Gunners had several players at risk of injury - with Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, and more, all having spells on the sidelines - but "couldn't do anything about it."

He told reporters: "We knew from the beginning of the decision that our squad was super short and being super short we had some players that had a high probability of getting injured, because that’s what they had in the last few seasons. So we knew that and we cannot do anything about it. But that (availability) is a big thing to win trophies, you know, and Liverpool did that extremely well. They managed to maintain that consistency, that level of players, a system, a coach, a stadium that has created again, and consistently, an incredible atmosphere for them. So you need a lot of ingredients or you don't win the Premier League. That's the difficulty of it, and it's true that this season we never found that consistently because of the issues that we had."

The Mirror report that Arteta chose to have a smaller squad at Arsenal because he likes a tight-knit group but that gamble has backfired as they stare a fifth-straight trophyless season in the face. The Gunners had the chance to strengthen more last summer and in January, but didn't do so - something Arteta was frustrated about earlier this year. But it seems they won't make that mistake again this summer.

Arteta added: "We will do everything that we can to improve the team and especially improve the players that we already have and whatever the market offers to give us a better chance to win for sure we will try to do it."

Arteta's Arsenal, who are 15 points behind champions Liverpool with three games to go, travel to Anfield in the Premier League on Sunday.