We have the same thought. Since Arsenal failure in the previous 2 seasons I have always said that Arsenal failure to win the EPL title was due to Arteta failure to maintain team consistency. This is indeed the biggest problem but Arteta still repeated this problem last season which should have been better because Man City last season had a tighter schedule to chase the UCL title. I had thought that maybe one way Arteta could deliver the EPL title was just by not focusing too much on chasing the UCL. And focus on rotating players in every match to maintain the players' physical and mentality so that they can maintain their performance so as not to lose points in every match.
I also think that City did not have the best season last year and this is what gave Arsenal the opportunity to follow City until the very last round. And although in the last season it seemed that Arsenal became a more stable team, I am not in a hurry to say that Arteta will completely get rid of this problem, and therefore I do not think that Arsenal can become the main competitor for City this season, at least until the first decline.
Arsenal are not just a major contender in EPL but arsenal are the only teams so far in the premier League to have given Manchester City such a fierce competition for two consecutive seasons, and I think they can do better if only they can stay focus and take their chances. I expect Mikel Arteta to work more on his players mental ability than their physical abilities because if you check what led to the loss of their chances of winning the title for the past two season, you will realize that they started loosing important matches to team they had earlier beaten in the first round as a result of psychological issues which could have been better taken care of by proffessionals but was neglected by the management and the team had to pay for this by loosing the title thereafter.