Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal’s desire “to go straight again” after Manchester City were overwhelmed 3-0 by the Premier League champions in the Community Shield on Sunday.
City never recovered from Riccardo Calafiori’s goal after just 24 seconds – the quickest in the Community Shield since 1968 – with Kai Havertz and the outstanding Martin Odegaard putting Arsenal in cruise control just three minutes after the restart in Cardiff.
On the day that City boss Enzo Maresca settled into Pep Guardiola’s shoes in a high-profile game for the first time, Arsenal fans added to the Italian’s discomfort with chants of ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning.’
For boss Arteta, though, it was business as usual as Arsenal started where they finished the last domestic season in May by claiming silverware.
Asked where the willingness had come from, Arteta said: “Because we want to go straight again. The desire comes (because) I want to live that moment again.
“I want to live other moments, even bigger than them … we know what it’s going to take. We know the difficulty of the task.
“We’ve never done it at this club, to win it again. We know that it’s going to demand something special and we are ready for it.”
Arsenal ended a 22-year wait to be crowned champions of England three months ago.
The Gunners will start the league campaign next week as favourites to successfully defend their title, especially after putting down such an impressive marker against opponents expected to be their closest rivals.
Arteta said: “We talked about the desire we have to start the season and to show ourselves how much we want it, I saw a lot of positive things against a top opponent.
“I am obviously extremely happy with the performance, the result, and winning the first trophy.
“I think it is down to the preparation we have done in pre-season. To the decisions the boys took after the World Cup, to continue to get prepared, to come early because they wanted to be part of it.
“If we drive the standards at this level, I’m sure that we’re going to be really, really competitive.”
Maresca was without the injured Rodri – the subject of a reported Barcelona bid – and admitted he was disappointed with how City conceded the first two goals without the influential Spain midfielder.
“Rodri is a player who just won the World Cup and Ballon d’Or,” said Maresca.
“He’s a top player, all the teams need Rodri, so it’s not about if we miss Rodri or not. The ones that played today – Elliot (Anderson) was quite good on his first game, Mateo (Kovacic) – but we can find many things after this kind of defeat
“For sure the first two goals we concede I don’t like. The first one because it’s after 25 seconds and after the second one there was no pressure on the ball.
“I don’t know if it was physical condition, we had many players at the World Cup. After the first goal the reaction was very good, but after the second goal it was more complicated.”
