On the eve of a new Champions League campaign kicking off, Mikel Arteta believes our players are better equipped to go further than our quarter-final finish last season.
A year ago, we played our first game in the competition for six years, and our 4-0 win against PSV Eindhoven was a first taste of Europe’s premier competition for many of our players, including plenty of established international stars.
That enthusiasm took us all the way to the last eight for the first time since 2010, but 12 months on the squad have touched down in Italy ahead of our game against Atalanta with a lot more experience of what it takes to win at this elite level, Mikel feels they will have learnt from any mistakes to help them get off the perfect start at the Gewiss Stadium on Thursday night.