Arsenal, whose challenge faded as they finished third in May, have once again seen their rivals heavily invest during the summer - with Manchester City again bankrolling an incredible spree to the best part of £100million as they look to blow the title race wide open.

Conversely, Wenger has brought in Morocco striker Marouane Chamakh, a free transfer after his contract with Bordeaux expired and unproven French centre-back Laurent Koscielny, in a reported £10m deal from Lorient.

The Gunners manager, however, insists his young squad have the talent to mount a sustained assault on what could be a first championship since the unbeaten campaign of 2003/2004.

"I am concerned about the focus of my team and the quality of my team, and we will try and do as well as well we can," said Wenger, whose side host AC Milan tomorrow and then play Scottish giants Celtic in the Emirates Cup on Sunday.

"No matter what happens this season, the money will not be an excuse if we do not achieve our targets. We know the world we live in."

The Gunners boss continued: "Do I think we have a team to play at the top? Looking at the players we have, I say yes.

"It does not go into financial consideration. I judge whether they are good enough in the championship.

"Have the other clubs more money or less money? It is not important.

"It is whether the players are better players or lesser players and I think we can compete with the players we have."

The influx of cash provided to City boss Roberto Mancini by owner Sheikh Mansour has, according to Wenger, distorted the overall market.

"I don't think Man City reflects in general the financial state of international football," said the Arsenal manager.

"The transfer market overall is very quiet - clubs are very tight with money."

Wenger, though, feels the forthcoming campaign is set to be an "open" contest.

"I feel there will be more teams fighting for the title," he said.

"It makes it more interesting and open as well - we have seen the start of that last season as well, all of the top teams lost points against the second part of the Premier League.

"That trend could even become stronger this year.

"There are the three who dominated last year, then you have Spurs, Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa - and you also have one team who is a surprise at the start of the season."

Arsenal have been linked with a number of central defenders as they look to cover for the loss of veterans Mikael Silvestre, Sol Campbell and William Gallas.

Wenger insisted he was not surprised to see Campbell join Newcastle instead of taking up a one-year deal to stay on at Arsenal, but refused to be drawn on any specific targets - said to include Everton's Phil Jagielka, Udinese centre-half Cristian Zapata and German international Per Mertesacker.

"Ideally yes [we need another centre-back], in number we have lost Silvestre, Campbell and Gallas and we have only signed Koscielny," said Wenger.

"[Johan] Djourou is coming back so you could say we have got two, but we are still two short."

Arsenal have been linked with a string of goalkeepers, including Fulham's Mark Schwarzer, as Manuel Almunia's number one position appears up for grabs.

"At the moment we are still looking outside to strengthen the squad," Wenger confirmed.

"If we find the right players we will do it. In what position I cannot tell you."