It’s been 21 years since Arsenal won the Premier League title, and, lest we forget, they’ve never won the Champions League.
However, the way they’re going, the Gunners could hoist both of those trophies in 2026 – and that’s down to the remarkable control that Mikel Arteta has been able to exert on games both domestically and on the continent.
Defensive football isn’t as sexy to analyse as attacking fluidity, but it can sure win you trophies… the sole objective on Arsenal’s to-do list this season.
Leading From The Front
The current Champions League 2025/26 odds have the Gunners down as a 7/2 favourite to finally lift the famous trophy, with Bayern Munich (9/2), Manchester City (6/1), and PSG (13/2) considered next most likely.
Those online football betting options are supplemented by the Premier League winner market, which has Arsenal installed as a red-hot 8/13 favourite.
At the time of writing, Arteta’s men have conceded at least six goals fewer than any other EPL side, which works out at 0.61 per game – a marginal, but not insignificant, improvement from 0.89 goals shipped per match last term.
The Gunners also kept nine clean sheets in their opening 18 games… by far and away the best record in the division.
Arteta has developed a robust defensive shape that starts from a high press, with Viktor Gyokeres working hard to close down opposition defenders.
Although Arsenal rank sixth in the EPL for tackles in the final third, they sit third when it comes to PPDA: that is, passes per defensive action.
If their opponents can find a progressive way through Arsenal’s coordinated press, they still find themselves with a host of other obstacles to overcome.
Narrow Minded
Game state dictates how Arsenal defends, for the most part.
In games in which they are drawing or losing, the Gunners will typically adapt their high press in something like a 4-3-3 shape.
But when Arsenal are leading, Arteta has drilled his troops to deploy a compact system that, visually at least, is akin to a 4-4-2, with Gyokeres dropping in alongside a more advanced central midfield player – he, in turn, is protected by a double pivot in behind.
Wide midfielders and full-backs typically sit narrow in their respective lines, only jumping out to the flanks when obvious danger emerges.
These compact lines help Arsenal to eradicate chaos in the middle of the pitch, instead asking opposition wingers (usually) to win their one-on-one battles against the Gunners’ full-backs… something that does not happen easily.
It’s noteworthy that Arsenal’s defensive success has continued even in the absence of Gabriel, who has been forced to sit out passages of the 2025/26 season through injury.
The Brazilian is a colossus, rightly regarded as one of the best central defenders on the planet.
But even his loss has been absorbed by Arteta’s well-drilled organisation, which confirms that process and shape will always trump individual talent from a defensive perspective.
It’s a schema that has brought the Gunners plenty of success in 2025/26 already.
Their supporters will be desperate for that to continue up to – and including – the business end of the campaign.
