After Arsenal spent nearly £300m in the transfer window, pundits were making no excuses for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Despite a tough opening run of fixtures, they were told in no uncertain terms that this season they simply had to win the Premier League title.
While expectations were no doubt lofty, they still have to overcome the challenge of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and a Liverpool team that in signing Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak had broken the division’s transfer record twice in one summer.
In spite of those circumstances, the Gunners are top by one point heading into the October international break.
It’s been a seriously impressive start to 2025/26, and while they signed a plethora of new forwards, it’s their sturdy defensive record they have to thank yet again.
After seven weeks, they have the best defensive record and have conceded just one open play goal all campaign; that strike from Erling Haaland against City a few weeks ago. Fair enough, really, few have kept the Norwegian quiet lately.
How Arsenal's defence can carry them to the title
It’s safe to say that Arsenal’s defence has come a long way since Arteta first took the reins at the Emirates Stadium.
The Spaniard’s first match in charge saw the Gunners head to Bournemouth on Boxing Day in 2019. A 1-1 draw played out in which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang rescued a point for the visitors at the Vitality Stadium.
GK – Bernd Leno
RB – Ainsley Maitland-Niles
CB – Sokratis
CB – David Luiz
LB – Bukayo Saka
CM – Granit Xhaka
CM – Lucas Torreira
RW – Reiss Nelson
No. 10 – Mesut Ozil
LW – P-E Aubameyang
CF – Alexandre Lacazette
A marker of the rise at Arsenal is the fact that Bukayo Saka started at left-back that day. Since then he’s become the poster boy of the Arteta project, playing in his 200th game for the club on Saturday.
It’s safe to say the backline has changed considerably. From those dreary days of Sokratis, David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding, to William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, the quality has soared.
From being a laughing stock defensively, the north Londoners now have not just the best defence in England, but arguably in Europe’s top five leagues.
In Saliba, they possess a Rolls-Royce defender, a player who in the words of Leandro Trossard is “one of the best in the world at the moment.”
In Gabriel, they have a colossus. He’s not as calm as Saliba, but that’s why the duo complement each other so well. The Brazilian is a titan and his goal record summarises that perfectly.
Even when one of them are injured, Arsenal have been able to cope well. When Gabriel sustained his hamstring injury during the second half of last season, Jakub Kiwior stepped up admirably, notably keeping a clean sheet against Real Madrid.
This term, with Saliba missing a few games due to his own injury problems, new £13m signing Cristhian Mosquera was outstanding, hailed by some as the club’s “signing of the summer”, such is the bargain price they have paid.
Combined with the likes of David Raya, Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori, Arsenal have shipped just three league goals in seven matches. In the Champions League, they have conceded none. It’s a water-tight defence.
Now, however, they need a bit more help from the attackers.
How Arteta can improve Arsenal's forward line
It was blindingly obvious what the primary issue for Arsenal was last season; they didn’t score enough goals.
There were a number of reasons for that, chiefly the fact that Saka and Kai Havertz missed large parts of the campaign through injury.
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Still, once all was said and done, for the first time since the 1923/24 season, an Arsenal player failed to make it to double figures across a league campaign.
So, over the summer, Andrea Berta and Co invested heavily in improving the attack. Viktor Gyokeres, the scorer of 54 goals in 2024/25 arrived, while Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze also came in to bolster the forward ranks.
Despite that, it still feels like there is a missing link in attack. Whether that be Arsenal’s left-hand side, or the chemistry being built with Gyokeres, there are a few problems.
Arsenal’s big Swede is improving game by game and Arteta appears to be happy with his performances, but ultimately, he will be judged on goals and he is not finding the net regularly enough.
After scoring against Nottingham Forest in the fourth gameweek of the season, he has not beaten the goalkeeper in his last six matches. In fact, across the striker’s last ten outings in all competitions, he has only scored once.
Yet, he is not the biggest problem. Like it was last season, the primary issue has been the left flank.
That being said, certain circumstances have dictated what they can and cannot do in that area of the pitch.
Madueke, now injured, played there against Manchester United and Leeds while Eze featured there against Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Athletic Club.
Since then, he’s been preferred in a more central role and that will likely continue after Martin Odegaard’s new injury setback.
As such, despite improved form for Gabriel Martinelli, Arteta has turned back to Trossard. The Belgian has feen a mighty fine servant since arriving from Brighton, notably scoring 17 times during the 2023/24 campaign. Only Saka found the net more regularly that year.
However, his powers are waning and he ended last year with just ten goals in all competitions from over 50 matches.
The forward has scored some big goals in Arsenal red. To some, including one content creator on X, he is “the best finisher at the club.” Certainly, some of his goals throughout his career in the capital have showcased why that is the case.
That 2023/24 season saw the 30-year-old net two goals against Chelsea, while he also scored against Manchester United, Liverpool and came up with vital strikes in the Champions League versus Porto and Bayern Munich.
Truth be told, Trossard is a clutch player, but he isn’t a player in 2025/26 that Arteta should be relying upon to start regular games.
His involvement over the last three games demonstrates why. Last weekend against Newcastle he only created one key pass and was unusually wasteful in front of goal, striking the post in the first half when he should have at least hit the target.
The Belgium international was again wasteful in midweek against Olympiacos, missing what were deemed as two ‘big chances’.
Then, against West Ham on Sunday, his influence was limited once again. Reduced to two blocked shots and only one accurate cross from six attempts, he lost possession a whopping 16 times and only completed one dribble. Nuno Santo’s men played with a deep block but Trossard only continues to look like the weak link in this forward line.
So, as much as this Arsenal team need to find a way to get more out of Gyokeres, equally, they need to find solutions on the left-hand side. That could well begin by dropping Trossard after the international break.
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