Arsenal legend Lauren says his former club should be aiming to finish the 2021-2022 season in the top four.

The Gunners made their worst start to a season for 58 years after losing their opening three games of the current campaign.

However, they turned things around after the international break in September and completed an unbeaten run of eight Premier League games before suffering a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend.

As a result, Arsenal are fifth in the Premier League table – just three points off fourth-placed West Ham United.

Therefore, Lauren believes Arteta should be looking to secure a place in the Champions League via a top-four finish this season.

The former Arsenal full-back told The Mirror: ‘They must, we have to put pressure on ourselves always, both individually and collectively, to get to the Champions League places.

‘That’s what I believe. You must always set high targets. They have to try and get back into the Champions League next season and then build on that for the following years because it makes such a difference getting into the top four.

‘There’s Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and then maybe there’s one place open. The reality says that you cannot fight for the league. There’s still many points but Arsenal have shown with some of the displays before Liverpool, I believe this team can get to the Champions League places.

‘This team can get back to the Champions League and, from then on, they can start to build to start something. But the target has to be to get into the Champions League because the reality is that if they hadn’t started so slowly, they might have been able to win the league.

‘But the target now should be to get to the Champions League positions. I believe this team is capable of getting into the top four positions. To win the league is not impossible but it’s really, really difficult.’