"The second one is that big investors came in at the same time like Chelsea and Manchester City after who were hugely ambitious. And we were not the club who could basically compete with them anymore on the financial front.”
He added: "Today is different. Today you have so many investors that everyone is nearly on an equal level again. But for years, I must say it was the most difficult years because I had created the level of expectation and I thought we did not have the same potential to compete anymore.
"Then you’re always on the backfoot to justify ‘why don’t you win the Premier League anymore?’. I can understand that because that’s a normal request for someone who loves Arsenal.”
Chelsea, bought by billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich in 2003, were the first club to use their financial might to muscle their way to the top, winning back-to-back titles in 2004/05 and 2005/06. City won their first Premier League title in 2011 - three years after their own takeover.
It has required perfection to defeat the Etihad side in almost every year since 2016, with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool being the only side to come out on top on one occasion. Arteta has since picked up the mantle.
Arsenal led the race for much of last season only for a late collapse as a result of a threadbare squad and a lack of experience. This season, they enjoyed a near-flawless run from January onwards which involved just one loss and a draw.
Yet it still wasn’t enough as City's deep squad and title-winning nous meant they went without suffering a league defeat since early December, which included a nine-game winning streak to end the season.
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