Arsenal fans expected to lose quite badly against Liverpool on Wednesday night only to come away with all three points but that doesn’t mean we’re closer to Liverpool than we thought, something we’ll probably learn on Saturday.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 15: Alexandre Lacazette of Arsenal celebrates with teammates after scoring his sides first goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC at Emirates Stadium on July 15, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 15: Alexandre Lacazette of Arsenal celebrates with teammates after scoring his sides first goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC at Emirates Stadium on July 15, 2020 in London (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Next up it’s Manchester City. They won’t be on holiday like Liverpool. They have a point to prove to the footballing world and it looks they’ll start with the FA Cup before moving on to the Champions League.

So how long will it take Arsenal to close the gap on the two best sides in the country? Reporters asked Mikel Arteta after Arsenal’s surprise win at the Emirates on Wednesday night.

“Well, I’ve seen it and I’ve experienced it to do it in one year, and I’ve also seen other clubs never do it, or some do it in four or five years,” Arteta replied.

“It depends on the context, it depends on your resources, and it depends on how much you have to change. But we are in a process and we don’t know at the moment.

“There is a lot of uncertainty in many areas, but what we can control now is who do we want to be as a team, the culture that we are building to do that, the spirit that we need to be successful, and then improve our players and my main focus is on that.

“I want to make our players better and I want to make them more comfortable and create an identity for the football club because then it will be easier to say we need this, this and this.”