England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale will return to the Emirates for the first time with Southampton this weekend,
Mikel Arteta, keeping his feet firmly on terra firma, has realistically insisted it is “super early” in the season to be discussing who the Premier League title contenders are.
The Spaniard’s Gunners are currently sitting third with second-place Manchester City on 14 points and just one behind leaders Liverpool.
The Gunners finished as runners-up in both of the last two seasons, losing out to City by just two points last term and by five points in 2022/23.
But Arteta believes much more of the season will have been played before it becomes clear which teams are going to battle it out for the title this time.
“No, it’s super early”, he said, when asked whether it could be a three-horse race between Arsenal, City and Liverpool.
“For me, we just started it. But you can feel already the tension, the importance of every match. But we are just in early October.”
Arteta’s side will host Southampton on Saturday, when they will be fielding Ramsdale, who had left Arsenal for the Saints this summer following three years in north London.
The England goalkeeper lost his place as Arteta’s No1 last season when Arsenal signed David Raya from Brentford on an initial loan deal, before making it permanent and selling Ramsdale.
“I called him straight away after I got the news [of his move to Southampton],” Arteta said of Ramsdale. “He was really happy. He is a player we love a lot. Very charismatic. He really put his fingerprints here in the way he was. And it will be very nice to see him.