Mikel Arteta [Will Palmer/SPP]

MIKEL Arteta is planning to use the latest international break to solve the biggest problem of Arsenal’s season so far: scoring more goals.

The Gunners find themselves five points clear at the top of the Premier League table following Saturday’s hard-fought 1-0 home win over Hull.

The champions have recorded nine wins out of 10 in the league so far, four of which have sparked cries of the classic club chant, “1-0 to the Arsenal”.

Arteta insists that he is hoping to see a much more “efficient and pragmatic” approach from his players by the time they return to action away at Newcastle United next Saturday.

“I have to praise the players and the staff behind the scenes for the work they are doing, because it’s been very demanding,” said the Gunners boss.

“There has been a short time to recover from games because of the travel, but despite that, the mentality and character has been incredible. We’re in a strong position, but we know we can still improve in a lot of areas. We’ll analyse things over the international break, because we know afterwards it will be super difficult.”

Quizzed on the frequency of which he has seen his side win by just a single goal, Arteta added: “We need to be more efficient. We were one-on-one with the ’keeper twice [against Hull], and if there was a penalty there, too.

“There were shots deflected and blocked. We need to insist, and find ways to be more efficient and pragmatic.

“Sometimes we try to score the perfect goal against low blocks, but we need to be much more chaotic than that.

“If we open the scoring much earlier also, it changes the game.”