England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale will return to the Emirates for the first time with Southampton this weekend,<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta, keeping his feet firmly on terra firma, has realistically insisted it is \u201csuper early\u201d in the season to be discussing who the Premier League title contenders are.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard\u2019s Gunners\u00a0are currently sitting third with second-place Manchester City on 14 points and just one behind leaders Liverpool.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, it\u2019s super early\u201d, he said, when asked whether it could be a three-horse race between Arsenal, City and Liverpool.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, we just started it. But you can feel already the tension, the importance of every match. But we are just in early October.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arteta\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
The England goalkeeper lost his place as Arteta\u2019s No1 last season when Arsenal signed David Raya from Brentford on an initial loan deal, before making it permanent and selling Ramsdale.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called him straight away after I got the news [of his move to Southampton],\u201d Arteta said of Ramsdale. \u201cHe 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.<\/p>\n
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