Arsenal season preview 2026-27: Premier League title theirs to lose, but is there enough in attack for UCL?

After what was to all intents and purposes a four-year challenge to get themselves back to where they belong, Arsenal enter the 2026-27 season with that sweetest of labels affixed to them: champions. Ending the 22-year wait for Premier League glory was enough of a struggle but now Mikel Arteta faces a mission that was beyond Arsene Wenger, George Graham and every other manager since the 1930s. Not since George Allison took on the mantle from Herbert Chapman have Arsenal repeated as champions of England.

With so much to settle across the chasing pack, Arsenal have a prime opportunity to turn a title into an era. So often in recent years, their greatest saboteur was within them. If the 3-0 win over Manchester City in the Community Shield is anything to go off -- and it might not be -- then this team see no reason to doubt anymore.

The champions look intent to stamp their superiority on the rest of England. Well, first of all, know that if you do, we're talking a grade A certified case of glory supporting. Hate to say it, but it's important you know it.

Feel like you can live with yourself? As for what you're getting, hitching your wagon to the champions, it's a club deeply rooted in its particular part of London, one that somehow contrives to bring together communities from across the capital. The scenes that engulfed the Emirates Stadium on the night the title was won in May speak to how many lives Arsenal touch, from newborns being hoisted into the sky like trophies to youngsters from every borough and beyond, waiting it out until dawn in the hope they might get to see their heroes.

On and off the pitch, you get a style and swagger from Arsenal, one that came to the forefront under Wenger and was typified in the effortless charm of Thierry Henry. Under Arteta that elegant but occasionally self-defeating approach was blended with the steel of Graham's days while keeping the through line from both those great managers: a commitment to giving homegrown youngsters their shot. Both Bukayo Saka and Myles Lewis-Skelly were crucial in moments of the title race, Max Dowman too.

And if all that is not enough, the merch is also quite good. Well, they won the toughest domestic league in the sport and came within a few penalty kicks of being crowned European champions. I think it's safe to say they are pretty decent.