Arsenal's depth and versatility in focus ahead of their Premier League title campaign

After coming in second place behind Manchester City for the second season in a row, there is a sense of anticipation that Arsenal may finally break their 21-year dry spell and clinch the Premier League title.

Only once in Premier League history have a team finished as runners-up in three consecutive seasons - Arsenal doing so themselves between 1999 and 2001, with Manchester Utd winning the title on all three occasions.

Mikel Arteta's men have run City close in the last two campaigns; their 89-point tally in 2023/24 would have been enough to secure the title in 18 of the previous 32 Premier League seasons.

Bettering last season's club record 29 league wins will be no easy feat, however they have made a noticeable improvement season-on-season under Arteta.

Arsenal have been overtaken in the final stages by Manchester City in each of the last two seasons - they relinquished an eight-point lead over the champions in 2022/23, and were top heading into the final week last season before City won their game in hand at Tottenham.

A lack of depth has been cited as the key element as Arsenal stuttered on the home stretch; no team used fewer players than Arsenal's 25 last season - but that was the same as both Fulham and Manchester City. The stark difference between the top two was City's ability to rotate and remain fresh; they made the third most changes to their starting XI in the Premier League in 2023/24, and only Crystal Palace made fewer than the Gunners.

It's conceivable that five players could leave Emirates Stadium before the end of the transfer window, with Mikel Merino the only seemingly imminent arrival.

Arteta has made a habit of signing versatile players in the last few windows; despite currently being perceived as light on numbers, the majority of positions have healthy competition for places. Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu are capable deputies across the backline, and the majority of attackers are comfortable in various roles.

Two players who Arsenal have relied on - and don't have serious competition or cover - are Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka. They have a combined 90 Premier League goal involvements over the past two seasons, and have started 73 of a possible 78 league games in that period.

By comparison, Manchester City have the luxury of rotating their key players - Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne have been crucial in the latter stages of the season, having played significantly less football than Arsenal's aforementioned duo.

An injection of quality in the final third could be crucial as Arsenal look to go one step further this season. A run of two wins from eight games proved costly in 2022/23, however they lost only one of their final 18 Premier League games last time out - a 2-0 home defeat against Aston Villa ended up being the decisive result as Arsenal finished two points behind City.

In fact, Unai Emery's side were the only team to take maximum points from Arsenal last season; Villa have proven to be a thorn in Arsenal's side under Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal will need to be near-perfect if they are to prevent a fifth successive title heading to the Etihad Stadium. The Gunners will want to exorcise one of the few demons from last season this Saturday; a win at Villa Park could be the catalyst for Mikel Arteta as he looks to finally emulate his mentor Guardiola.

Watch Aston Villa vs Arsenal live on Premier League on Saturday from 5pm; kick off 5.30pm