Thomas Vermaelen is ready to take on more responsibility following the departures from Arsenal of Sol Campbell, William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre. The Gunners have not won the Premier League since 2004 and their last piece of silverware was the 2005 FA Cup.
"You have to keep performing every year. If you play for Arsenal you can never say 'I had a good year, so now I'll ease off'. That's not possible," said Vermaelen.
"People ask you to do better every year and I will try to do that.
"It's always more difficult to stay at that level and next year that is the challenge - not only to maintain the level but to improve upon it because it wasn't enough last season. We didn't achieve anything. We have to grow again."
