Arsenal begin pre-season in Catalonia with Mikel Arteta demanding the Premier League champions build on last season’s breakthrough.
Arsenal’s Premier League title celebrations are over, and Mikel Arteta has already raised expectations for what must follow.
Now, the Gunners find themselves in Catalonia, gearing up to face Girona at Estadi Montilivi on Saturday, their first chance to show supporters how pre-season is shaping up. Their summer began quietly enough, with a 3-0 win over MK Dons behind closed doors at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.
It’s been just over two months since Arteta guided Arsenal to their first Premier League crown in 22 years. After three seasons of finishing as runners-up, the breakthrough finally arrived, and with it, the club’s 14th English title.
Arteta returns from the summer break looking recharged, buoyed by the atmosphere among the players already back at London Colney.
The Spaniard pointed to the hunger he’s witnessed since the squad started filtering back for pre-season.
“To see everybody coming back in the building with such an energy and desire to go again is really touching,” Arteta said.
The Arsenal manager also highlighted that the victory parade was probably the best football experience of his career, seeing the scale of the celebrations as a sign of just how far the Gunners have come under his watch.
“It puts it probably at the highest level, higher than any other trophy that I’ve won or moment that I’ve had." he explained.
Fans gathered in cities across the globe, giving Arteta a real sense of Arsenal’s reach and the bond that has grown between the team and its supporters.
But the conversation quickly moved on from the celebrations.
Winning the Premier League has shifted the expectations for Arsenal. The first title since the Invincibles ended a long wait, but Arteta is clear: this is not the end of the journey.
“This has to be the start and this has to be the standard. Excellence has to be our standard.” he said.
That challenge is already shaping how Arsenal approach their work in Catalonia.
Pre-season is usually about building fitness, bedding in new faces and tweaking tactics. But for Arteta, there’s an added layer: preparing a squad that now has to carry themselves like champions, without losing the hunger that got them there in the first place.
The Girona game will be the first real glimpse of how that process is unfolding. Results are still a footnote at this stage, especially with players returning at different times after the World Cup, but competition for places and roles in the new season is already underway.
The Gunners will take on Real Betis, Borussia Dortmund and Como in further friendlies before the Community Shield clash with Manchester City. When the real action starts, the expectation is clear: last season’s standards aren’t just to be remembered, but matched.
The title parade marked the end of a long wait for Arsenal. Now, Arteta wants the hard work that made it possible to become the norm.
Girona is the first public step in showing that these champions are ready to go again.