Mikel Arteta makes media laugh with his ambitious points tally for Arsenal

Mikel Arteta has joked that Arsenal will have to win every Premier League game next season to become champions.

The Gunners have battled Manchester City for the title in the last two seasons but lost both times despite continued improvement.

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Due to poor form at the end of the 2022/23 campaign, Arsenal failed to take City to the final day in May, only to lose again.

They may well be set to face the reigning champions again this time around, but Arteta believes there is only one way to beat them.

Asked at a press conference what it would take for Arsenal to overtake City and win the title, he said: “114 points, if we do that we will win the league for sure.”

Martin Odegaard was by his side and gave him a smile before Arteta himself started laughing along with the others in the room.

“That’s the goal and from there we’ll see where we get to, but today that has to be the goal, to win every game,” he added.

“To earn the right to win and to have a greater probability than the opponent to win the match. When we have difficulties, to be even better than the opponent, that is the team’s objective.”

To total 114 points, teams must win all 38 of their matches in a Premier League season, a feat that no team has ever achieved before, unsurprisingly.

City and Liverpool currently share the record for most wins in a league season with 32 – the former did so in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, with the latter reaching that tally in 2019/20.

Winning every game would take a monumental effort and it is highly unlikely that any team will ever achieve it.

Despite that, Arsenal know they still need to improve if they are to win their first league title since 2004.

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Their pre-season began with a 5-4 penalty shootout win over Bournemouth after a 1-1 draw in the United States.

Arsenal face Premier League rivals Manchester United on Saturday night (01:00 UK time Sunday) before further friendlies against Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon.

The Gunners have made just one signing so far this summer, with David Raya completing his permanent move from Brentford following his loan spell.

However, they look set to soon announce the arrival of Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna in a £34m deal that could rise to £38m with add-ons.

Arsenal open the 2024/25 Premier League season at home to Wolves on August 17 and will be hoping to launch a third consecutive title challenge.