Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has defended his club's summer transfer business, invoking a line from his predecessor Arsène Wenger about football's obsession with "news" to urge fans not to overlook the strength of the squad he already has. Speaking ahead of Sunday's home fixture against Chelsea, Arteta described supporters' focus on a lack of a marquee deadline-day arrival as a "reverse bucket list" problem, where existing quality is undervalued in favour of the next big signing. The comments come with Arsenal, the reigning Premier League champions, having won all three matches so far this season without conceding, and being strong favourites to retain the title.

Arteta pointed to summer arrivals including Ezri Konsa in defence and Bruno Guimarães in midfield, alongside the return from injury or fresh involvement of World Cup winners Mikel Merino and Martín Zubimendi, plus Eberechi Eze, as evidence the squad is deeper and stronger than at the end of last season. The main concern is attack, where only Christos Tzolis arrived while Leandro Trossard (sold to Beşiktaş for £15.3m), Gabriel Martinelli (£60m club-record sale to Al-Hilal), Gabriel Jesus (£8.6m deal with Barcelona, rising to £12.9m) and Ethan Nwaneri (loan) all departed. Arteta suggested the club had rebalanced spending after a lavish outlay the previous summer, and stressed the importance of valuing what has already been built rather than chasing constant new signings.