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Matchday Pundit

Arsenal — Premier League Champions 2025 to 26 — 14th English Title

Premier League Champions • Season Review • 2025 to 26

Three second place finishes. One summer of transformation. A season that had everything. And one Tuesday night at Bournemouth that changed north London forever.

82Final points total

25Wins from 37 games

26Goals conceded

14thEnglish title

It ended not with a roar at the Emirates but with a collective exhale felt across north London, across every pub and living room and front garden where red and white scarves had been clutched for two very long hours. Bournemouth’s Junior Kroupi scored in the 39th minute. Erling Haaland equalised in the 95th. But City could not find the winner they needed. The final whistle at the Vitality Stadium confirmed what Arsenal fans had waited 22 years to hear. The Premier League title was going back to Highbury Hill. It was going back to Mikel Arteta. And it was going back to the club that has now spent the better part of six years trying to remind English football that they belong at the very top of it.

This is the story of how they got there. All of it. The brilliant summer, the injury crisis, the nine point lead, the collapse in April that had half the country writing their obituary, the recovery, and the night it was finally sealed. The full season. From first kick to final whistle.

The Foundation

The Summer That Changed Everything

Before a ball was kicked in the Premier League this season, Mikel Arteta and sporting director Andrea Berta made the most consequential set of signings in Arsenal’s recent history. Not one or two additions. Six of them. And not safe additions, not squad fillers. Transformational signings that were designed to address every single weakness that had cost Arsenal in the previous three title races.

Martin Zubimendi arrived from Real Sociedad for £55.8 million. Viktor Gyokeres came from Sporting Lisbon for £55.5 million. Eberechi Eze was signed from Crystal Palace, right under Tottenham’s noses, for £60 million. Noni Madueke arrived from Chelsea for £48.5 million. Cristhian Mosquera came from Valencia for £13.1 million as defensive cover. And Christian Norgaard joined from Brentford for depth and leadership. The total outlay across the summer was £247.9 million, the biggest single window in Arsenal’s history.

They signed Zubimendi for control. Gyokeres for goals. Eze for creativity. And in doing all three in a single window, Arteta eliminated the three most persistent criticisms of his Arsenal team.

Zubimendi was the most significant. For three seasons Arsenal had been criticised for lacking a true defensive midfielder, someone who could sit behind Declan Rice and allow him to express himself further up the pitch. Zubimendi was exactly that. His arrival freed Rice to become a genuine offensive force rather than a defensive safety valve. The results were immediate. By October, Zubimendi was being described as the unsung hero of the title charge. His nine out of ten rating across the season from multiple outlets told its own story.

Gyokeres was the frontman Arsenal had been missing since Olivier Giroud left. A player who could hold, link, press, run channels and score 14 Premier League goals in a single season. Eze was the creativity and unpredictability that had been lacking in the final third, a player capable of producing moments of individual brilliance that no tactical plan can prepare for. When he scored a hat trick in the North London derby against Spurs, north London understood exactly who they had signed.

The Season

How It Unfolded

Month by Month, Match by Match

AUG

The injury crisis begins immediately. Arsenal lose at Liverpool 1 to 0 on the opening day with an injury hit squad, Saliba going off after four minutes. Havertz, Saka, Odegaard and Saliba all sustain injuries in August, sidelining each of them for weeks. But five days later they demolish newly promoted Leeds 5 to 0 at the Emirates, Gyokeres scoring twice including a stunning solo goal. The season begins in chaos and brilliance simultaneously.

SEP

The City draw that set the tone. With Saka and Odegaard injured, Arsenal host Manchester City. Haaland gives City an early lead. Then, deep into stoppage time, substitute Martinelli receives a perfect lofted pass from Eze and lobbs Donnarumma to snatch a 1 to 1 draw. Arteta becomes the first manager to avoid defeat in five consecutive league games against Guardiola. The moment announces this Arsenal side as different.

OCT

Top of the table by October. Arsenal beat West Ham 2 to 0 with goals from Rice and Saka to go top of the Premier League with 18 points from eight games. Zubimendi scores his first brace in top flight football against Nottingham Forest. Raya is already the best goalkeeper in the division.

NOV

Relentless in all competitions. Nine wins in a row across all competitions. Gyokeres and Rice head goals at Burnley. Merino scores twice in Europe against Slavia Prague. Arsenal are playing the best football in England and it is not particularly close.

DEC

Raya’s save of the season. Brighton visit the Emirates at Christmas. Arsenal lead 2 to 0 when Yankuba Minteh curls a stunning effort towards the top corner. Raya somehow gets his hand to it and tips it over. The save wins Save of the Month and keeps three points that later prove absolutely crucial. Arsenal end 2025 five points clear of City with a game in hand.

JAN

The Eze moment. Arsenal go to Crystal Palace, Eze’s former club, and he opens the scoring after just eight minutes with a stunning curling effort into the top corner from a short corner routine. It is the kind of goal that defines seasons. Three days later Gabriel Jesus returns from 386 days out to start against Manchester United. The squad depth Arteta has built is proving its worth.

FEB

Set piece kings. By February Arsenal have scored 18 Premier League goals from set pieces, breaking the competition record. Declan Rice’s delivery from corners is being described as undefendable. No team in the history of the Premier League has been as dominant from dead ball situations.

MAR

Carabao Cup final heartbreak. Arsenal face City at Wembley in the EFL Cup final. They play well but lose. It is the start of a painful week that also includes an FA Cup exit. Three consecutive defeats begin to pile the pressure on. But the league lead still stands at nine points.

APR

The collapse that nearly cost everything. Arsenal lose 1 to 2 at home to Bournemouth on 11 April, Alex Scott scoring the winner. A week later they lose 2 to 1 at the Etihad, Haaland swivelling to finish and pile the pressure on. Three defeats in eleven days. A nine point lead reduced to three. The entire season hanging by a thread. The bottling accusations return. The doubts return. The question returns: can Arsenal actually do it?

MAY

The comeback and the coronation. Arsenal respond with four wins from four matches. They beat Burnley 1 to 0 at the Emirates on Monday 18 May, Kai Havertz heading home from a corner. The title is in their hands. Twenty four hours later at the Vitality Stadium, Junior Kroupi scores for Bournemouth. Haaland equalises in the 95th minute. But the winner never comes. The whistle blows. Arsenal are champions.

The Players

Player by Player

The Men Who Made It Happen

Viktor Gyokeres

Striker

14Premier League goals

Arsenal finally had their striker. The man who scored 54 goals in 52 games at Sporting did not quite hit those heights in his first Premier League season but 14 goals and the relentless pressing, the link play, the physical dominance, the channel running. He changed what Arsenal looked like going forward.

Bukayo Saka

Right wing

7+8Goals and assists

Seven goals. Eight assists. The most key passes in the squad. The most dribbles. The most progressive carries. When Arsenal needed a moment, the ball invariably ended up at Saka’s feet. He is the heartbeat of this team and he is 24 years old.

Declan Rice

Midfielder

4+8Goals and assists

The most possession won. The most progressive carries. Eight assists. And set piece deliveries that every opposition manager feared. Zubimendi’s arrival transformed Rice from a defensive midfielder into a complete box to box presence. He was Arsenal’s engine and their brain simultaneously.

Martin Zubimendi

Defensive midfielder

9/10Season rating

The unsung hero. The most line breaking passes in the squad. The third most minutes played. He arrived from Real Sociedad and immediately made Arsenal better organised, better balanced and harder to beat. His partnership with Rice was the foundation everything was built on.

Eberechi Eze

Attacking midfielder

7Premier League goals

The North London derby hat trick. The stunning curler at Crystal Palace. The assist for Martinelli’s City equaliser in September. Eze was everything Arsenal needed in the final third and the signing of the summer. He made the difference in moments that mattered most.

David Raya

Goalkeeper

26Goals conceded (fewest in league)

Premier League Golden Glove winner. The save against Brighton in December was the save of the season and possibly saved the title. Raya was the best goalkeeper in England this season and it was not a close contest.

William Saliba

Centre back

67.3Aerial duels won %

The most aerial duels won in the squad. The defensive anchor around whom Arteta built Europe’s most organised backline. When Saliba went off injured on the opening day of the season the entire football world held its breath. He came back and was immovable.

Gabriel Magalhaes

Centre back

3Goals from set pieces

The leader. The voice. The man who headed in important goals at crucial moments and organised the defensive unit with an authority that belied his age. His partnership with Saliba is the best centre back pairing in England right now and it is not particularly close.

The Arteta Story

The Manager

What Mikel Arteta Has Built and What It Took

Mikel Arteta arrived at Arsenal in December 2019 as an unproven manager, a Guardiola disciple given the keys to a sleeping giant and a considerable amount of scepticism. His first three seasons produced finishes of eighth, fifth and fifth. By his fourth season he had Arsenal playing the most exciting football in the country and finishing second. By his fifth they finished second again. And again in his sixth. Three consecutive runner up finishes. Three consecutive near misses. Three consecutive summers where the question was the same: can Arteta go one step further?

The critics never fully went away. Arsenal were too reliant on set pieces, they said. They were boring, they said. They could not win the big games, they said. When the nine point lead became three in April, those voices grew louder than they had ever been. This was going to be the greatest collapse in Premier League history. The bottling company, one headline read. The moment when Arteta’s Arsenal would finally confirm what his detractors always believed.

He did not change the system. He did not panic. He trusted the players he had built his project around and they responded with four wins from four matches to take the title with a game to spare. That is what building a culture looks like.

What happened instead was the defining moment of Arteta’s tenure. He did not change the system. He did not panic publicly or privately according to everyone inside the club. He trusted the players he had built his project around. And they responded with four wins from four matches to put the title beyond City’s reach. That recovery, more than any individual result or piece of brilliant football, told you everything about what Arteta has built at Arsenal. A culture of resilience. A squad that does not fold. A team that has been taught, over six years, how to handle adversity and come out the other side of it.

He is 44 years old. He has now won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Community Shield at Arsenal. He has overseen the most significant squad rebuild in the club’s modern history. And with a Champions League final against PSG still to come at the end of this month, there is a genuine chance that this season ends with the most extraordinary double in Arsenal’s 144 year history. Whether that happens or not, what Arteta has done at this club is already extraordinary. He took a sleeping giant and woke it up properly. That is his legacy, whatever comes next.

The Numbers

A Season in Statistics

82Points

25Wins

7Draws

5Defeats

26Goals conceded

18Set piece goals

14Gyokeres PL goals

22Year wait over

The Final Word

“Three second place finishes. Three times the bridesmaids. And now, finally, the bride.”

The trophy will be lifted at Selhurst Park on Sunday. Arteta will hold it above his head and the north London faithful will sing until their voices give out. Twenty two years is a long time to wait. But they waited the right way, rebuilt the right way, and won it the right way. This Arsenal side earned every single point of those 82. Nobody can take that away from them now. The only question left is whether they can do the unthinkable and complete the double against PSG in Budapest. Knowing this group, knowing this manager, you would not bet against them.

Matchday Pundit  •  Arsenal FC  •  Premier League Champions 2025 to 26  •  19 May 2026