Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes the club are still a few years away from their long-term vision.
The Gunners have impressed many fans with their progress this term, as they are currently favourites to finish fourth in the Premier League.
While qualifying for the Champions League for next season would be a resounding success for the season, Arteta believes the club still has a lot of work to do to reach the very top.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday's clash with Liverpool, the Spaniard said: "I think we are much closer than we were, and probably the closest that we have been in terms of what we are looking for. But I focus on that gap. And that gap is still big.
"We have to make things quicker, sharper. We can be more adaptable, we can be much more unpredictable, we can have much more flexibility and we can be much more consistent throughout games to maintain that level."
"Everybody is aligned with the same purpose," he added.
"With the same determination and with the same level of passion to achieve what we want to do. Accepting we are not there, but we want to get to the top very quickly and in order to do that we have to do it together.
"We don't have any single player or any single member of staff in the organisation that can do it individually, all by themselves so it has to be a collective drive to get that bit extra and one of those main factors, for me, has been the Emirates and our supporters. How much they are giving to the team, it's difficult to put a number on it but I'm telling you it's been one of the biggest parts."
He finished by talking about avoiding excuses for their form, including any off-field drama: "I hate that feeling, of feeling sorry for ourselves. Of saying 'oh, this is happening to us again'. A lot of things happen, and when they happen we have to find the reason why. If we don't want it happening again we have to do something about it because if we keep doing the same thing then I expect the same thing - or worse - to happen, because we already have a history.
"So we have less margin to suffer, because we have already been there. We have to change that dynamic completely and look at what we can become and how we are going to do it. If we put all the effort and energy there, the rest will take care of itself."
