Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has echoed last year’s thoughts by chief executive Ivan Gazidis when he declared that winning the Premiership is the first objective of the club.

Speaking on the Arsenal Season Review DVD, the Frenchman started by explaining how next season it will be even tougher for the Gunners to win the title as more and more teams are joining the elite of Premiership football.

Wenger, who saw his Arsenal squad finish third last season despite leading the Premiership at one stage, added how contrary to what many believe, finishing in the Top Four is not the primary objective of the club as when the season kicks-off – although it’s not easy to achieve – the priority is to finish at the top of the table.

According to the club, the Arsenal manager has “sufficient funds” to invest and based on what he said last month, it seems the defence is the area on which he will be focusing especially after the departure of Swiss International Philippe Senderos.

Wenger said:

It will without a doubt be more intense.

You have Aston Villa, you have Man City, you have Tottenham and you have Liverpool plus the top three from last season, so it will always be more difficult.

[Not winning a trophy hurts me] more than anybody else. You know I do not work with the energy I put into this job to finish second or third; I want to finish first. But we are in the best league in the world and people invest massive money.

I would say 17 teams today would be very happy to be in our position and some of them are from very big clubs.