Arsenal 3 Coventry 0

23 Aug 2026 - THE OBSERVER / Sport

Jessy Parker Humphreys

The red flares have barely faded from the sky over Holloway Road, but after ending a 22-year wait for a Premier League title, can they defend it?

As Patrick Vieira noted towards the end of their 2003-04 Invincibles season, “to achieve something special… is to win back-to-back titles”.

They didn’t manage to do that, finishing 12 points behind a Chelsea team who then did. That made José Mourinho the second manager to win successive Premier League titles, after Alex Ferguson. Pep Guardiola completes that list, which Mikel Arteta hopes to join this year.

The consensus heading into this season has been that it is Arsenal’s title to lose, a conclusion that was not affected by a comprehensive 3-0 win over newly promoted Coventry City to begin their Premier League campaign on Friday.

Potential title rivals are contending with new managers or the loss of iconic players. Meanwhile Arsenal have stability on top of being very good at football. The risk is that it becomes stale, as it had begun to be towards the end of last season, although that was down to fear as much as a tactical malaise. There is a reason that Emma Hayes, a serial winner as Chelsea manager, had “if it ain’t broke, break it” as her mantra. For Arsenal, the shackles might finally be off after ending a run of second-placed finishes.

They got through last season despite the patchy form and availability of some of their best players. This season’s opener was only the second time since December 2024 that Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard had started a league match together. They each scored on Friday and will feel they have a point to prove this season.

Their return should boost Arsenal’s attack, with Arteta seemingly willing to give his players more licence to play off the cuff.

Christos Tzolis therefore seems to be an ideal addition, with his return to the Premier League after a spell at Norwich City as lively as his pre-season outings have been.

This is all the result of Arteta’s introspection.

“I spent a lot of hours in the summer writing about where we want to take this football club. What kind of version of Mikel is going to be needed?” he said in his Men in Blazers podcast interview.

The version presented at the start of the new season does not appear to differ significantly from the one from before. Intense, passionate and a little bit cringe, but with a single-minded approach that more than justifies Arsenal’s tagline as title favourites.