Mikel Arteta knows Arsenal can't repeat Liverpool and Man Utd mistakes this summer to catch Man City

The transfer market is a science that few have mastered, yet Mikel Arteta seems to have got to the core of the matter pretty succinctly this week.

"To win the Premier League you have to be the best. That's why you have to strengthen," he said, predicting that next season will be the toughest season in Premier League history.

It's remarkably similar to one of Pep Guardiola's mantras, that every season gets harder for Manchester City, so if they stand still, they will be overtaken.

However, if there is a side who has 'mastered' the transfer market, that side is City, and it's telling that Arteta feels the only way to make up the gap between City and Arsenal is to spend money. When plotting his transfers, he could do worse than look at mistakes that Liverpool and Manchester United have made in recent years.

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While City have dominated the Premier League over the last six years, only once in that time has a side offered them a title race for more than one season - when Liverpool followed up their 97 points in 2019 that only secured second place, with the title the year after.

In 2018, United were (a distant) second to City, and were sixth the year after. In 2021, United were second again, but in 2022 were sixth again. Liverpool were second that year, but tailed off in the season just gone to scramble for a fifth-placed finish that probably flatters them a little.

Most summers after a side has finished second to City, their transfer activity has let them down. In the summer of 2018, United 'strengthened' their side with Fred and Diogo Dalot. In 2021, United spent big but their scattergun approach of signing big names backfired, with