Arteta has got Arsenal where Wenger wanted them to be but title bid is long shot

When Arsenal announced Mikel Arteta’s appointment as manager, it left me distinctly cool.

“Pep’s assistant,” I thought. “Perfect for Arsenal, he’s a really nice guy without a ruthless streak.”

I have to say I was wrong about that and I’m really warming to him big time now.

In eight months, he has got them playing out from the back and pretty much where old gaffer Arsene Wenger wanted them to be.

So it’s a 9/10 to Arteta for proving me wrong and 9/10 for winning two trophies.

But even so, I had to shake my head at the over-celebrations following Arsenal’s penalty shoot-out victory over Liverpool in the Community Shield and this idea, peddled on social media by some of their supporters, that we’re now looking at a title-challenging team.

Arteta has clearly learned from his Manchester City mentor Pep Guardiola that any old pot will do when you’re nodding to the fact you’ve added to the club’s overall tally of silverware.

But having watched English football for more than 40 years, I can tell both those guys that the Shield is a warm, cuddly curtain-raiser and nothing more than that.

Don’t get me wrong, winning breeds success and I understand Arteta was probably trying to drill that into his players. “Keep in your head what it feels like to lift a trophy” – that sort of thing.

But in reality, all they have done is win seven matches to lift the FA Cup and Community Shield and that’s a long way from having what it takes to win 15 or 38-game trophies.

My concern now is that there’s an expectation among Gunners fans that they are going to make this leap from winning level-two to level-one trophies this season.

Beating Leeds, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Sheffield United, Manchester City and Chelsea to win the FA Cup then winning what, in dining terms, is just an amuse bouche doesn’t make a title challenger.

The way you judge a team’s title chances is by asking the question: “Between August and February, can they break the back of the opposition when everyone was on the starting line together?” And I just don’t think Arsenal can.

Now, if we get to January and they are in second or third place, a point or so behind Liverpool or Manchester City and mixing it with Manchester United and Chelsea, then I will say, “OK, maybe they do have some of the steely resilience I thought was missing”.

But if I compare their first XIs and squads to City and Liverpool… well, they just don’t compare I’m afraid.

Is Bernd Leno as good a keeper as Alisson or Ederson? No, nowhere near.

Are Arsenal’s central defenders better than their counterparts at Anfield and the Etihad? Absolutely not.

Have they got a dominant midfield enforcer better than Fabinho or Fernandinho? No again.

And while strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alex Lacazette will both score goals if they get the service, that’s not enough.

So while it’s well done and keep going to Arteta, Arsenal still have so much to do before they’re challenging for major honours again.

And the club’s Twitter feed should understand that instead of banging on that we have just witnessed the reincarnation of Guardiola’s 2011 Barcelona like they did on Saturday.