Arsenal have announced the appointment of former player Mikel Arteta as their new coach on a three and half year contract.

The Gunners sacked Spanish trainer Unai Emery in November after a string of poor results for the team.

Arteta spent five years  at Arsenal where he won two FA Cup trophies under Arsene Wenger after a long spell at Everton.

After hanging up his boot, the Spaniard was drafted into the coaching set up at Manchester City since 2016 where he was an assistant coach to Pep Guardiola.

"We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game," Arteta said.

"That's been made very clear to me in my discussions with [owners] Stan and Josh Kroenke and the senior people from the club."

He will take over as Gunners boss on Sunday, leaving Freddie Ljungberg in interim charge for the trip to Everton - another of Arteta's former clubs - on Saturday (12:30 GMT kick-off).

Arsenal are 10th in the Premier League with 22 points.

"We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we'll do it," added Arteta.

"I'm realistic enough to know it won't happen overnight, but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy."

Arsenal's head of football Raul Sanllehi said the Premier League club met "several top-class candidates" before choosing Arteta as Emery's replacement.

"Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us," he said.

Arteta's coaching team has not yet been announced.