Enzo Maresca makes early Premier League title admission as Man City prepare for Arsenal battle

Enzo Maresca has been tasked with dethoning Mikel Arteta and bringing the Premier League trophy back to the Etihad Stadium.

Enzo Maresca has measured Manchester City's chances of winning the Premier League this season. The former Chelsea boss, who has replaced Pep Guardiola in the dugout at the Etihad Stadium, will face strong competition from Mikel Arteta in the title race as Arsenal look to defend their crown.

Last term, Bournemouth crowned the Gunners as the new champions of England when they held Manchester City to a draw at the Vitality Stadium. The 10-time winners of the top-flight fell at the penultimate hurdle, and Maresca has been tasked with getting them back over the line.

Following a pre-season friendly defeat on penalties to Inter Milan on Saturday, the Italian was quizzed on his targets for the upcoming campaign. Maresca leapt out of the gates and said: "We are going to try our best to win titles this season.

"The Premier League is one of the titles we need to try until the end," he added, before quickly downplaying expectations. "In terms of our chances [of winning the league], it is too early to say.

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"What I like is day by day helping players improve. Because if you improve players, the team improves. This is important. I am very happy, yeah.

"Very happy with the performance and very happy to be in Hong Kong on this trip with lots of fans - yesterday in the training session and today for the game. I am very happy with that."

At the end of last month, Arteta outlined his targets for the new season, and he was far more assertive. Speaking to club media, the Arsenal boss claimed that he, his staff, and the squad are motivated to build on last season's glory.

"This has to be the start, and this has to be the standard," said Arteta. "Excellence has to be our standard, and this has to drive [us] to attack the future.

"The way we behave daily with more and more determination and ambition because we've shown that we've got it. Now we have to show that we belong to this level, and we want to increase and take this football club to a different dimension."

Arteta later added: "My ambition is that daily we nail the standards and the requirements on the day to be better the following day. That is the thing that we have to control.

"And maintaining that ambition, that discipline, that commitment and that positive energy through 11 months. That is the responsibility that we all have. If we all achieve that, we are going to be in a really strong position in May."