For the first time in over 20 years Arsenal’s name is back on the Premier League title. The Gunners are Premier League Champions, and deservedly so. Mikel Arteta, a former Guardiola understudy, has guided Arsenal to the promised land. But how did he do it?
Liverpool and Manchester City dominated the Premier League over the past decade with brilliant, high-intensity attacking football and possession play. When Arteta joined Arsenal as a coach, he initially tried to blend in with that style, but ultimately he decided to take the Premier League back 10 years to secure Arsenal’s first Premier League title in 22 years.
How Did Mikel Arteta Set the Premier League Back 10 Years?
Over the past 10 seasons, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp’s ultra-attacking Liverpool side pushed the League toward a more attack-minded identity. Demand for technically gifted players in the Premier League rose sharply.
From 2017, Premier League teams became obsessed with playing out from the back, wide play, and brilliant attacking number 10s like Coutinho, Kevin De Bruyne, Bruno Fernandes, Dele Alli, and even Cole Palmer in recent times.
However, over the past three years, Mikel Arteta quietly increased the physicality of his team. He signed big, imposing, and aggressive players in key positions, and he capitalised at exactly the right moment. As Pep Guardiola’s influence began to wane across the League, Arteta stepped into the vacuum with a physical, defensive, and aggressive approach.
STATS – Arsenal scored a record high 19 goals from Corner kicks this season. Liverpool scored 10 in their title winning 2024/25 season.
Arsenal scored 71 goals to become League champions, significantly lesser than teams that have won the Premier League in the last 10 years.
Arsenal matches became less about outplaying opponents in attack and more about capitalising on set pieces, defending deep and winning aggressive tackles and duels. Many teams in the Premier League followed suit — even newly promoted Sunderland recognised this shift, aligned their 2025 summer recruitment to the same idea, and it worked perfectly.
This was what the Premier League looked like before Guardiola arrived in 2016, and right at the end of his tenure in England, Mikel Arteta has succeeded in pulling the Premier League back in time — all while delivering the title to Arsenal.
Although Arsenal fans are a bit defensive about their club’s approach on the pitch, this strategy has already produced a league title and secured Arsenal a place in the UEFA Champions League final. That should be a source of pride — because there isn’t just one way to play and win football matches.
