Mikel Arteta reveals importance of Arsenal winning the Community Shield

Mikel Arteta has expressed the importance of Arsenal beating "the best team in the world" to win the Community Shield on Sunday.

The Gunners ran out 4-1 winners in a penalty shootout at Wembley Stadium after the game finished 1-1 after normal time - Leandro Trossard bagged a 101st minute equaliser for Arteta's side.

The win over Manchester City is Arsenal's first in three years, with the Cityzens winning home and away last season to clinch the 2022/23 Premier League title.

Speaking to the press after the game, Arteta was asked about how crucial it is win the Community Shield and finally beat Man City: "It feels great. I don’t think it gets much better than winning a trophy in Wembley against the best team in the world, and to do it the way we’ve done it. It’s really encouraging.

"It’s great, that’s why we are here - to win trophies for this football club and make it successful. Just the joy of seeing so many happy and proud people and the connection again doing it for our supporters in Wembley feels very different, and that’s great.

When asked if the win will raise expectations for Arsenal this summer, Arteta replied: "I don't know [if this result will raise expectations]. I just wanted to grab that trophy as quickly as possible and then we can think about the next, but we know it's football, you win a trophy today, but tomorrow you have to be training, you have to prepare for the Nottingham Forest game in the right way.

"It will be a very different game to this, a very difficult one as well and we know that we have to go day-by-day. This is great, it lifts us, the spirit, the belief and everything, we just want to play better and win games. That's what we have to do."

The Gunners kick start their Premier League campaign next week against Forest and will be hoping to go one better than last season and win the title, having finished second to City during the 2022/23 season.

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