Arteta demands ‘desire and ambition’ for title defence and says Lewis-Skelly will stay

Mikel Arteta has called on Arsenal to prove they have the desire to defend their title and insisted Myles Lewis-Skelly will not be leaving in this transfer window

Mikel Arteta has called on Arsenal to prove they have the desire to defend their Premier League title on the eve of the new season and insisted Myles Lewis-Skelly would not be leaving in this transfer window.

Arsenal face Coventry in their opening match on Friday night as they attempt to retain the championship for the first time since the 1930s. Arteta’s side have won 17 of their last 18 matches against promoted teams and have not been beaten at the Emirates by one since November 2010 – a run of 45 matches.

But while Arsenal will be heavy favourites to start with a comfortable victory, especially after their impressive win over Manchester City in the Community Shield, Arteta believes they must adapt to a different challenge this time. “We need to breathe and we need to take this organically because it’s going to be a long marathon,” he said. “What we need to show is that desire and ambition to be better than what we were last season, a month ago, or a week ago when we played Man City. We have the ability to improve, to evolve, and that’s what I sense and I feel around the club and especially around the players.”

Asked whether Arsenal begin the season with a target on their backs, Arteta added: “Today, no, because we start from scratch and we’re going to have to prove we have the level to go back to that position again. But I think that happened in the last three seasons – at some point we were first, at some point we were chasing it, and you never know what’s better. You give me the choice, I want to be first, I want to be hunted, and I want to be in control of our future, rather than depending on somebody else.”

It is understood that Lewis-Skelly was offered to Manchester United and Chelsea earlier in the window as Arsenal attempt to raise funds after the £75m purchase of Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle. The 19-year-old academy graduate was outstanding in midfield against City in Cardiff on Sunday, having also started there in the Champions League final last season against Paris Saint-Germain, and Arteta is “100%” confident he will remain an Arsenal player.

“The players that have been raised in our system, and they feel generally that love and that connection with the club, bring something else, there’s no question about that,” he said. “We need to look after them in a really special way because they bring value that is very difficult to find. That’s why, when we can, we want to protect those assets as much as possible, develop them and make them extremely important for the club.”