Arsenal invincible offers Mikel Arteta's team title-winning advice

Arsenal legend and 'Invincible' Gilberto Silva believes a "hunger to win trophies" will help the Gunners get over the line in the Premier League title race this season.

Gilberto, who spent six years at the club and lifted one league title, was part of the iconic 2003/04 squad that became the first in English league history since 1888/89 to go the entire season undefeated.

The Brazilian joined the club in 2002 off the back of an exceptional World Cup campaign and is regarded as one of Arsenal's finest midfielders of the modern-day.

He's still very much in close contact with sporting director Edu Gaspar, whom he called his "brother", and is certainly excited by the project both Edu and Mikel Arteta have been able to cultivate in north London. Now, the Gunners just need to get over the line.

Arsenal invincible offers Mikel Arteta's team title-winning advice

Arsenal have gone almost four years without silverware since winning the FA Cup during Arteta's first season at the helm. However, the Spaniard has thrust the Gunners back into a position where the entire fanbase has long believed they belong.

After competing fiercely for the league title last season, Arsenal are in the hunt once again in 2023/24 but have two immense competitors in Manchester City and Liverpool - led by Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp respectively.

Despite their incredible run of form in 2024, Arsenal, for now, remain outsiders for the title, but the gap between themselves and leaders Liverpool is just two points ahead of City's visit to Anfield this weekend.

Gilberto certainly knew what it took to win in north London as he lifted a league title and two FA Cups with the club, but what advice can he offer Arteta's current crop?

“Now they are in the process of building up their profile, their career and establishing themselves," he said, speaking to The Athletic.

“We need to go one step further, let’s show hunger to win trophies. If we win today, then I want to win tomorrow. We win the cup today, what’s the next one? We win the FA Cup, I want the Premier League. When you win, you understand it, you smell it.”

It's all about cultivating and harnessing a winning mentality.

The 47-year-old also weighed in on the club's striker situation during the interview, suggesting that only a striker that fits their style is worth signing this summer given the presence of countryman Gabriel Jesus.

Known as the 'invisible wall' during his playing days, Gilberto was keen to heap praise on instrumental summer arrival Declan Rice.

“His arrival was so important for the stability of the team,” he says, with Arsenal lacking a reliable enforcer since the days of Patrick Vieira and Gilberto. “He is very strong to stand in the position in front of the defence and support the guys up front and he’s adapted very well. It seemed like he knew everybody before he arrived. Sometimes when you sign a good player for big money, they can be frightened, but he looks like he knows Arsenal.”

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