There were moments across the past four years when it was entirely reasonable to wonder whether Mikel Arteta would ever get there. Not because of lack of quality — the football his Arsenal team produced was frequently breathtaking — but because of the cruelty of the margins. Three runners-up finishes in three consecutive seasons. Leads surrendered. Final-day heartbreaks. A nine-point lead in April 2026 that disappeared in 11 days before he rallied his side again. This is the story of a manager who refused to stop believing, even when the weight of expectation nearly crushed the project entirely.
The Rebuild: December 2019 Onwards
When Arteta walked into the Emirates in December 2019, Arsenal were 8th in the Premier League and drifting. Unai Emery’s reign had ended in acrimony. The club had not won the league since the Invincibles campaign 15 years earlier and showed no credible signs of doing so. The squad was bloated with players who did not fit a clear style, the wage bill was chaotic, and the culture — by multiple accounts — was one of players going through the motions.
Arteta, 37 years old and without any previous managerial experience, was a bold appointment. He had been working under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, absorbing the principles of high-press, positional football that had made City the dominant force in English football. His plan for Arsenal was ambitious but clear: rebuild the culture first, then the squad, then win.
The first two years were about survival and foundation-laying. The FA Cup win in August 2020 gave the project early credibility. The Carabao Cup in 2023 added to it. But the Premier League — the one that truly matters — remained elusive.
The Three Near-Misses That Shaped a Champion
The 2022-23 season was the cruelest. Arsenal led the table from August and maintained their advantage deep into spring. Then, in April, they lost to City and never recovered. Eight points vanished from their lead in the space of a few weeks. It felt like a fragile team learning a hard lesson.
The 2023-24 season was perhaps even more painful. Arsenal pushed City all the way, finishing two points behind in what was one of the tightest title races in recent memory. They had been good enough to win the league — City were simply relentless. And then came 2024-25, when Liverpool ran away with the title and Arsenal could only watch.
Arteta kept the faith. He kept the core of the squad together. He kept building, kept evolving. The arrival of Viktor Gyökeres last summer was the final piece — a centre-forward who could stretch defences and provide the physical presence to complement the intricate build-up play that Arsenal had perfected. Martin Zubimendi’s addition in midfield gave the team greater control in deeper positions. The squad was ready.
The Nine-Point Collapse That Wasn’t
The 2025-26 season was not without its horrors. With three weeks of April remaining, Arsenal held a nine-point lead at the top of the table. Then, in 11 extraordinary days, they lost to City and dropped points in a manner that seemed to echo the collapses of previous years. City surged. The gap closed. For 48 hours, City were actually ahead on goal difference.
What happened next revealed everything about the character Arteta has built into this squad. They won four consecutive matches without conceding. They did not panic. They did not fragment. When City dropped points against Everton and then drew at Bournemouth, Arsenal were ready — and they were there. That is the mark of a team and a manager who have learned from every previous setback.
The Historic Achievement
Arteta is now the first former Premier League player to win the trophy as a manager. He is the first Arsenal manager to deliver the championship since Arsène Wenger in 2004 — his predecessor who loomed large over the club for the entirety of the post-Invincibles era. He is also the first manager to avoid defeat in five consecutive league games against Pep Guardiola, having drawn with City in the first meeting of the season back in September.
In Budapest on 30 May, there is still more history to write. A Champions League title would make Arteta arguably the greatest manager in Arsenal’s history — ahead of Wenger, ahead of Herbert Chapman, ahead of everyone who came before. That is the scale of what he stands on the edge of achieving.
The man they said could not win the big one. The manager they said was too emotional, too intense, too reliant on a system that opponents would eventually crack. He has won the Premier League. And he is not finished yet.
