Last season, Arsenal was a little unlucky, but so, they could take 1-2 positions higher in the standings. The potential of this team is one of the best in the league, but this is not enough to compete for the championship title and, as you said, the real rivals for them are too strong teams, like Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea. For Arsenal to have a chance at the opportunity to compete with the leaders of the league, they need to rethink their style of play and correct the mistakes made in past games. I sincerely wish that in the new season Arsenal will be able to improve their performance.
I remember Arsenal get their best playing style for several months when they make a jump from degradation to top 6
Then slowly they lost cohesiveness the coach needs to get that moment back and repeat it again
Last season many teams performed well, but unfortunately in the second half of the season... For example Brighton or Newcastle who could have got into the Euro zone at all if they had played so well all season! I hope they can make that happen this season... In general not only Arsenal have been able to show what they are able to do, although I think their game last season was poor...