‘Team to beat’ – John Obi Mikel names Premier League title favourites

John Obi Mikel has picked out Arsenal as the ‘team to beat’ in the Premier League again this season, claiming Mikel Arteta still has a ‘better’ and ‘more settled’ squad than his rival managers.

After three successive runners-up finishes, Arteta finally got the monkey off his back by steering Arsenal to the title last term, ending the campaign seven points better off than nearest rivals City.

It had been 22 years since Arsenal had last lifted the coveted trophy under Arsene Wenger and there were raucous scenes as the club’s long-suffering supporters descended on north London to soak up the moment of history.

Paris Saint-Germain ensured Arsenal’s hopes of a double were extinguished just days later and Arteta was met with criticism from fans and pundits alike for the way his team approached the Champions League final in Budapest.

However, the Gunners will be looking to kick on and use their disappointment in Europe for motivation heading into the new top-flight season, which starts at home to newly promoted Coventry City on August 21.

First, though, the English champions have three pre-season friendlies to prepare for against Real Betis, Borussia Dortmund and Como, as well as an eagerly anticipated Community Shield showdown with City in just a week and a half-time.

‘Wow, the team to beat? There are so many teams,’ ex-Chelsea midfielder Obi Mikel said on The Obi One Podcast when asked to name his favourites for the title.

‘The good thing that you can say about this season is it is absolutely wide open, absolutely f***ing wide open, apart from Arsenal.

‘Apart from Arsenal… you can say [with Arsenal] that this is the team right now.

‘They’re settled, they have a manager who has been there for so many years, he’s built a team and a squad that has gone on to win the Premier League.

‘It doesn’t matter how they won it, they finally crossed the line. That’s what a lot of the Arsenal fans were saying: it doesn’t matter how we win it, let’s just cross the line and then we can talk about next season and how we want to play.’

Obi Mikel is intrigued to see whether Arteta alters his tactical approach this term, especially if he manages to bring in the players he wants in the summer transfer window.

The former Nigeria international added: ‘I want to see now how they play, how they approach this season, how they defend their title because okay, it doesn’t matter how you played last season, you played ugly or however you wanted to win and you’ve done that.

‘It wasn’t pretty to watch but they’ve done it. Now I want to see how Mikel Arteta and this Arsenal squad play this season because they have to defend that title.

‘If you look at all the top five, top six teams, they [Arsenal] are the most settled squad. They still have the best squad in the Premier League and he’s still strengthening the squad.

‘He’s still bringing in players, players that he wants, so they are the ones, if you have to say the ones to beat, but again, it comes down to how this Arsenal team plays this season.

‘Are they going to play pretty football? Are we going to see the same shenanigans that we saw last season? Set-pieces, corner kicks, throw-ins and all of that.’

One of the more unexpected transfer sagas of the summer has surrounded Vinicius Junior’s future and Arsenal’s rumoured interest in signing the Real Madrid superstar.

Vinicius has entered into the final 12 months of his contract at the Bernabeu and Arteta is said to be ‘absolutely smitten’ with the idea of bringing the Brazilian to the Emirates.

But according to Obi Mikel, Vinicius is simply ‘using’ the Gunners and supporters should ‘forget about’ signing the 2024 Ballon d’Or runner-up.

‘He’s not coming! Forget about that,’ Obi Mikel – a two-time Premier League winner with Chelsea – explained.

‘He’s just using Arsenal to get a better deal at Real Madrid. He’s not leaving Real Madrid.

‘I’m sure about that, 100 per cent. He’s not leaving! He just wants to use Arsenal to get a better deal. He’s not leaving Real Madrid. Why would he?,

‘Listen, Arsenal is a big team. If I sit here and say Arsenal is not a big team then I’m lying. Arsenal is a big team but Real Madrid is a different ballgame.

‘I think this conversation about contracts has been going on for a long time. He wants a better deal, he wants a new contract with a better deal and Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, is not willing to budge.

‘He [Vinicius] is not willing to budge either so it’s coming down to when he is going to have one year left. You don’t want a player like him having one year left because then he’s going to walk away next summer for free. You don’t want that!

‘He’s trying to get a better deal, Real Madrid are trying to get a better deal, so I think he’s going to end up staying at Real Madrid.’

Obi Mikel feels Vinicius’ fellow countryman Bruno Guimaraes is a far more realistic signing for Arsenal and may be the man to help Arteta’s side start playing some ‘attractive’ football this coming season.

‘He’s going to be a good signing for Arsenal,’ he said of the Newcastle midfielder.

‘I think him and Declan Rice in that midfield and Martin Odegaard is going to be good.

‘Mikel Arteta knows he has to play some attractive football this season. You can’t play the same way you played last season.

‘He knows he has to entertain the Arsenal fans because last season, what the fans were watching, it’s not what they wanted to watch, it’s not what they paid for.’

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