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Arteta urges patience as he continues his Arsenal ‘rebuild’ after inconsistent start

Mikel Arteta has called for patience among Arsenal supporters as he continues his rebuild of the club following their an indifferent start to the season.

After a strong showing in the opening six months of the Spaniard’s reign, which culminated in an excellent FA Cup win at the end of last term, it’s all fallen a little flat so far this campaign.

The Gunners have picked up notable victories, including the 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford, as a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang penalty rewarded the visitors for a superb showing.

That victory looked to have set Arteta’s side straight after a slow start to season, though they have since been deeply disappointing, suffering a dreadful loss at home to Aston Villa, before just about holding on to avoid defeat against Leeds last weekend – albeit while down to 10 men.

While they’ve flourished in the Europa League, the lack of goals and attacking quality has been a real issue and a clear indication that despite the strong start to his tenure, there is still a long way to go for Arteta to transform Arsenal into challengers once again.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s game against Wolves, with the former midfielder stressed that it will take time to shape a team capable of mixing it with the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.

“It takes a few windows at least to rebuild a squad,” he told the media at his pre-match press conference.

“And to establish yourself to compete at the level of certain clubs in this league, which is near 100 points, again it takes time.

“In football, time is very precious and people are very impatient.

“But if you don’t respect the processes and you ask certain people to do certain things when the foundations are not there, it’s a really dangerous thing to do as well.

“I know we all want to see — and I am the first one who wants to see — Arsenal at the top of the league and my only intention every time I prepare for a match is that.

“After, where we get, time will tell us.

“There are still a lot of things that are going to happen and we have to prepare for difficult moments.

“We know that the challenge and the responsibility is to turn it around as quickly as possible and get the club fighting where it belongs.”

The Gunners have also struggled to put a run of form together, with them having only won back-to-back Premier League games once this season, with that coming in the opening two weekends of the campaign. Such form has left Arteta stressing the need for consistency in the league, which he believes will only come once attacking displays improve.

“We have played 16 competitive games this season, won 11, lost four and drawn one but the ones we have lost have been in the league,” he added.

“That consistency in the league has to improve.

“To do that we need to score more goals. It does not matter who we are playing against now because we are catching up and know what we are facing in front of us.”

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