Mikel Arteta is right to refer to Arsenal as the biggest club in England, because the Gunners shouldn’t have a head coach aiming for anything less.

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s match against Chelsea, Arteta made some headlines by claiming he’s now coaching the biggest club in the country.

“We are the biggest football club in England,” Arteta said. “We have to play a little bit with that arrogance, that belief. The stadium has to create fear again.”

The statement sparked a bit of a debate, but as an Arsenal fan, I’m glad he said it. The team and their supporters have lost a lot of their pride, their ‘arrogance’ as Arteta puts it, and with it the belief they can really compete at the top.

No one fears a team only trying to be one of the top-four clubs. There’s no ambition there, it’s where Arsenal should be already. Aiming low is partly why the team’s failures in recent seasons have been quite so damaging.

The Gunners have to target getting right back to the top. Leicester City are showing (for the second time in five seasons) how possible it is to rise through the ranks if you do things right.

You don’t need to be the richest club or the one with the biggest-name manager. You just need to have ambition, belief and use the funds you do have wisely on both staff and players. Arteta can help provide the first two, and he should.

Obviously, the Arsenal boss also annoyed some Liverpool and Manchester United fans with the comments. It’s hard to argue that’s a bad thing.