Arteta rewarded with a new Arsenal contract: Can he achieve continued dominance?
Mikel Arteta has signed a new contract to continue as the Arsenal men’s first-team head coach until 2030. The former Arsenal player joined the club in this role back in December 2019 after the departure of Unai Emery, having a huge task of performing a massive rebuild at the Emirates, one that he has achieved successfully in the past seven years.
In his time at the club, Arteta has led Arsenal to an FA Cup (2020) and a Premier League title (2025/26), seeing his team competing for major silverware in recent seasons.
Under Arteta, Arsenal have become a dominant force in Europe once again. They reached the final of the UEFA Champions League last season, losing narrowly to defending champions Paris Saint-Germain on penalties. They have been the most consistent team in the Premier League for quite a few seasons, which is a far cry from the team that could barely compete to qualify for the Champions League. Arteta has transformed Arsenal into a solid defensive unit that is almost impossible to breach. They are particularly superb on set pieces and score a lot of their goals from dead-ball situations.
When Arteta took over Arsenal in late 2019, the team were sitting in 10th place in the Premier League table, with most Arsenal fans disillusioned and unhappy with the club. Seven years later, the team is simply unrecognisable, having already won the Premier League and looking to become an even more dominant force.
Last season, Arteta became only the 13th manager to win the Premier League. If he wins it again, he will be part of an even smaller group (comprising Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola, Arsène Wenger, and José Mourinho) of managers who have won the league multiple times.
With Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Chelsea all going through their own transitional and/or instability issues, Arsenal remain favourites to win the league title this season as well. They have the most settled team and the best squad in the league to challenge for multiple trophies. Arteta has a great opportunity to take advantage of his rivals’ predicament and turn his side into serial winners.
Although the Gunners won the Premier League after a 22-year wait last season, Arsenal’s priority going forward will be winning the Champions League. Even under Wenger, Arsenal won several league titles but massively struggled in Europe. Despite making the final twice, the Champions League trophy has eluded them. Wenger took them to a UCL final in 2006, while Arteta has guided them to a UCL semi-final in 2024/25 and a final last season. In fact, back-to-back winners PSG are the only team who have got the better of them on both occasions. If Arteta leads them to Champions League glory in his tenure, it will catapult him into immortality in the club’s rich history of successful managers.
Arteta has a great first team at his disposal: a mix of players in their prime as well as promising young talent. Declan Rice, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, David Raya, and Bukayo Saka now have the experience of multiple Premier League campaigns, while Max Dowman, Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Ethan Nwaneri are the potential superstars of the future.
That said, Arsenal do need improvements for sure. We’re aware that the Premier League is the most competitive league in the world, where it takes a lot of effort, blood, and sweat to win. Arsenal’s recent 3–0 loss away at Brighton & Hove Albion exemplified that no team has it easy here. None of the teams can be taken lightly, and even teams in the relegation zone can put up spirited performances.
Arteta has ensured that Arsenal remain dominant in every position on the pitch, but there is one area where they struggle: dominating games in terms of goals scored through open play. For context, in the 2024/25 season, Arsenal finished second in the league table, but they had scored 69 goals all season, 29% of which came from set pieces. Last season, they won the league but only scored 71 goals, 31% of which again came from set pieces.
Arsenal averaged 1.86 goals per game in 2025/26. Before them, title-winning teams in the last five seasons scored more than 80 goals in their league campaign, managing more than 2.1 goals per game.
While Arsenal possess the best defence in the league, they do not have the attacking prowess of the serially dominant sides. Their inability to bring in a lethal striker like Erling Haaland or a top winger for the left-wing position after the departure of Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard could prove to be their Achilles heel.
Their title rivals Man City and Liverpool possess elite strikers in Haaland and Alexander Isak, players who don’t need multiple chances to strike. Viktor Gyökeres hasn’t received the kind of support from his wingers and midfielders to make the kind of impact that was expected from him. Moreover, Arsenal’s playing style is also not conducive to attacking players, and that could be the reason why top forwards may be reluctant to join the club despite the riches and glory on offer.
While I do think Arsenal remain favourites to win the league this season as well, it’s not going to be easy, with Man City looking ominous and the mid-table teams also performing with a lot of courage and a lack of fear. Their chances of winning the Champions League could also be impacted due to a lack of an elite forward line.
They will certainly go deep in most tournaments due to their squad depth, but winning the Champions League and competing consistently for continental titles will remain a huge challenge unless they improve their attacking numbers.
To conclude, Arsenal have indeed made the right decision by extending Arteta’s contract, but to dominate season after season both domestically and continentally will need more. The North London outfit need elite attackers who can provide the kind of numbers expected from Europe’s elite sides, or else they will struggle to achieve the kind of success they are anticipating.
