Mikel Arteta: The pre-season friendlies showed Arsenal have hard work ahead

Mikel Arteta has assured Arsenal will gain insights from their defeats in the pre-season to minimise such occurrences in the upcoming season.

Arsenal are preparing to enhance their performance from last season when they vied with Manchester City for the title and were considered favourites to win the Premier League at one point, but eventually lost momentum.

To achieve even better results in 2024, the Gunners have invested significantly in the transfer market.

They outmaneuvered City to secure Declan Rice, albeit at a hefty price of £105million, convincing West Ham to let go of their star player.

Additionally, they acquired Kai Havertz from Chelsea and versatile defender Jurrien Timber from Ajax.

While their summer business seems promising, the London-based club have experienced mixed fortunes in pre-season.

Arsenal drew their first friendly against FC Nurnberg 1-1 before routing Wayne Rooney's MLS All Stars 5-0.

However, they were then defeated by Manchester United, with goals from Bruno Fernandes and Jadon Sancho. Although the match had no consequences, Arteta disliked the feeling of losing and intends for his team to learn from their errors.

"That I hate to lose, and that we all hate to lose," he said.

"That's the biggest lesson. I don't like the feeling I have right now. The boys have to train right now thinking how we are going to be better to win the next match.

"Positives are that a test match, at this level, in this context gives you a lot of information. That's always very positive.

"That information is that there are a lot of things to improve. How important the boxes are as always because if Martinelli put the two chances he has away we go 1-0 up and probably it would be a bit different.

"That errors are part of football and you have to overcome them as well. And a test to see as well how painful it is to lose a football match even if it's a test match. I want to see those players hurting and then as well how the team reacts after a defeat which is a good test as well."