Can Arteta turn champions into serial winners?

When Mikel Arteta signed his last Arsenal contract in September 2024, his quest to bring major silverware back to the club was ongoing. Two years later, he agrees his new one after leading them to a long-awaited Premier League title.

His task now is to turn champions into serial winners.

Arteta has overseen a total transformation of the club since his appointment in 2019. Arsenal, 10th in the Premier League table when he took over, were in a state of drift. Now, they are re-established among Europe’s elite, unrecognisable in all departments.

Arteta has joined a select group of 13 managers to have won the Premier League. He now has the chance to join an even smaller group, made up of only Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger, by winning it more than once.

Securing a first Champions League, after guiding Arsenal to only their second final last term, is another chance for immortality.

The agreement over his new contract, described as an “utmost priority” by co-chair Josh Kroenke in May, reflects the club’s belief that they are in the best possible hands. It also gives Arteta the chance to get closer to Guardiola’s longevity at Manchester City.

The club feel the departure of Arteta’s old mentor from City, coupled with instability elsewhere, presents an opportunity to capitalise. Arsenal are in their “win window”, to quote Kroenke. “We think we have a chance here to dominate,” he said in May.

Arteta’s task has been made harder by the failure to add a level-raising forward in the summer. But his squad is replete with players in or approaching their peak years, between 24 and 28, now with the added experience of having won major silverware.

The group look well-set to build on their success. But Arteta, the rookie head coach-turned elite manager whose work other clubs strive now to emulate, might be Arsenal’s biggest asset of all, which is why the news of his contract agreement is so significant.

Who better to nurture the culture which has underpinned their success than the man who painstakingly implemented it?

Arteta ensures stability, allowing Arsenal to operate from a position of strength. “Getting the foundations in place is usually the hardest part of the journey,” added Kroenke.

His tenure has been a story of steady improvement, both domestically, where Arsenal have ended a 22-year wait for the title, and in Europe, where they have gone from Champions League quarter-finalists, to semi-finalists, to runners-up in three years.

But there is work to do to sustain the trajectory.

Their defeat to Brighton highlighted room for improvement. It felt like a slap in the face to Arsenal, largely because it was so uncharacteristic. Arteta’s side, defined by their steeliness, hadn’t lost a Premier League game by a margin of three goals since 2023.

Arteta will hope to use the result as a wake-up call, and a reminder to his players that there can be no room for complacency in their efforts to retain their crown. “This is a big lesson for all of us to understand what it takes to win at this level,” he said.

He might even come to be grateful for it.

Arsenal went into the season as most people’s favourites to win the title. But only a handful of sides have gone back-to-back in the Premier League era. Arsenal haven’t managed it since the 1930s. History shows the enormity of the task ahead of them.

Part of the challenge for Arteta is to continue evolving the team.

Heavily impacted by injuries to their best attacking players for a second consecutive season last term, Arsenal leaned into their defensive and set-piece prowess to get over the line in the title race. They remain a formidable outfit on both fronts.

Clearly, there is still work to do in the transfer market to bring their attack up to the same level. For now, though, Arteta must get more from what he has, helped, at least, by a far clearer injury list.

It is worth noting that the last time he had Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka fit for a full season, in 2023/24, Arsenal broke a club record for goals. The trio, together again at last, scored 10 goals in their first seven games of the campaign.

More broadly, there have been signs of a return to a more possession-orientated playing style, and a greater desire to control games with the ball rather than without it.

It is of course still early in the campaign to make definitive judgements. But Arsenal’s numbers are up for possession, passes and passes in the final third compared to last season.

Most interestingly, they are attempting nearly twice as many build-up attacks, defined as open-play passing sequences of 10 or more passes leading to a shot or touch in the opposition box.

The Brighton gamed showed teething problems as they struggled to play through their opponent’s press, repeatedly landing themselves in trouble. But for the most part Arsenal have looked a more cohesive and purposeful outfit in their attacking play.

They trail Manchester City by three points in the Premier League table but the underlying data, usually the strongest indicator of future success, has them as the best-performing team again this season, despite what happened against Brighton.

There has been less reliance on set-pieces. All but one of their 16 goals in all competitions this season have come from open play, the only exception being Saka’s late penalty in their win over Sunderland.

There was further evidence of increased offensive threat in their Champions League opener against Napoli, when they attacked relentlessly, only scoring once but generating 4.05 expected goals, their highest figure on record in the competition.

The club will have to use future transfer windows to complete his squad. But the continued emergence of academy products, with Max Dowman and Marli Salmon the latest to benefit from the environment now in place at London Colney, offers further encouragement as Arteta’s tenure enters a new era.

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