IF NOTHING else, Arsenal’s Premier League triumph is a fitting reward for their performances over the past four seasons. Three successive runners-up spots, twice to Manchester City, once to Liverpool, suggested that Mikel Arteta’s team have been on the brink of something meaningful, but their inability to acquire the killer touch seemed a hurdle that was showing little sign of being eroded. Indeed, the five-point margin between the champions and Arsenal in 2023 became two a year later but grew to 10 in 2025. However, amid the frustration of the latter days of Arsene Wenger and the nagging disenchantment with the club’s owners, emerged a new Arsenal that spent money, some £ 700 million since 2022-23.
Some critics have spoken of 2025-26 being an underwhelming campaign, but it represents a changing of the guard, the end perhaps of the “Manchester City era”. City’s golden age has temporarily passed as the club awaits the dissipation of the legal tsunami that is in need of a solution. Pep Guardiola is, apparently, ending his messianic time at City, to be replaced by the nearest thing to one of his clones. It should not be forgotten that Arteta, too, was schooled in the ways of Guardiola. And with his mentor’s influence waning and City no longer as dominant, it seems appropriate that the first post-Pep season will begin with his protégé’s team kicking-off as champions.
They may not be as exciting as some people want them to be – mostly onlookers who are not Arsenal fans – but the title race is about endurance and patience. It should also be noted that City and Guardiola’s style is also being dismissed by some as boring and simply too antiseptic. Arsenal have been the best team in 2025-26 and in some respects, their Champions League progress, more than their title win, marks them as a team that has become more savvy and resilient. They certainly refused to buckle when the pressure built up and smart-arse football fans started wielding bottles to imply that Arsenal were going to falter in the final weeks.
Arsenal’s strength has been their prowess at set-pieces and their solid defence in front of arguably the best goalkeeper in the Premier League in David Raya, who has kept no fewer than 19 clean sheets. Players like Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze have been outstanding at times but if there is one aspect of their game that has brought them huge success it is their menacing presence at corners and free-kicks. Some might argue the irritating behaviour at corners that characterises the modern game is destructive and childish, but they have used their physical presence to good effect. For years they craved a prolific goalscorer and when they signed Viktor Gyökeres of Sporting for £ 55 million, they were gaining a player who had averaged almost a goal a game in his two seasons in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.
Gyökeres probably needed a season to adjust to an elite league and has started 26 games and scored 14 Premier goals. While he may become more proficient in 2026-27, he is 27-years-old and is possibly not quite the man they thought they were buying. A title win and possibly a Champions League success will mean more resources to strengthen a squad that has had more than its acceptable share of injuries and Arsenal will surely benefit in the market from the cachet of being Premier champions.
Their defence might be rock solid, conceding 26 in 37, but their goals scored per game ratio is among the lowest for a Premier League title-winning team, just 1.86 per game and only a handful of champions – including Arsenal in 1998 (1.79 per game) – have had a lower scoring rate. Of their 25 league wins, 52% (13) have been by a margin of one goal, of which eight have been by 1-0. They have not slipped-up against teams from below the halfway line, their five defeats have all been against teams who are currently in the top six.
The Arsenal team is, essentially, one that has been constructed in the transfer market, although Bukayo Saka, Myles Lewis-Skelly and the latest youngster to step up, Max Dowman, are all products of the club’s youth scheme. The bulk of Arsenal’s core squad is likely to be bound for the World Cup with Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Spain.
Across all competitions, this has been a landmark season for Arsenal, with two finals, a quarter-final in the FA Cup and a long-awaited Premier League success. With 2026-27 likely to be a year of transition for City, Liverpool, Chelsea among others, Arsenal can consolidate their league success this season with more silverware. The Emirates faithful will be hoping they only have to wait another 10 days or so for the next trophy.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)