Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira has admitted frustration with their preseason.
Palace open their Premier League campaign tomorrow night against Arsenal.
Vieira said, "Collectively we want to be in a better place, to be more competitive, to play better football. That has to be the challenge; we need to raise the bar.
"It was a good season. What is important is to keep the sort of stability that will help us grow as a team and improve the squad. A couple of players came on, that will give us more challenges. We want players to make it difficult for me to pick an XI. Squad wise, we are short, but I believe we can be even more competitive than last year.
"The game tomorrow will be important to start as well as we can.
"It is exciting. Last season against Man Utd we finished with a really good performance. It is important to keep the same ingredients to have a good season; the spirit, the togetherness and how we work as a team."
On Arsenal, he added: "I think it is about focussing on the game and how we can perform. The emotional side will be put aside and focus will be on performing well.
"Arsenal are in a better place than last year. They have brought in new players and they have the squad to be closer to the title.
"It will be a completely different game [to last season]. With the new players, they are a better team. They had a good pre-season; it is going to be challenging but we have the tools to challenge them.
"Last season at home, with the support we had, we had some really good performances. It will be important to keep it that way."
