Retaining titles is tough but Arteta's Arsenal are built differently

The great basketball coach Phil Jackson is the most successful in NBA history having won 11 championships. Nevertheless, in his famous book Eleven Rings, he is still moved to claim that the year after winning a championship is always the hardest.

"That's when everybody's ego rears its head and the uncanny chemistry the team felt just a few months earlier suddenly dissolves into thin air," argues Jackson. He quotes Rick Fox, three-time NBA champion turned actor, who compared it to winning an Oscar.