Arsenal finally ended a 22-year wait to win the Premier League title last season but history shows that successfully defending it is a rare achievement, leaving manager Mikel Arteta with the unenviable task of turning a breakthrough into a habit.
Only three managers -- Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola -- have retained the Premier League crown, a reminder that England's cut-throat top flight has a habit of consuming champions almost as quickly as it celebrates them.
Arteta enters the 2026-27 campaign attempting to join that exclusive company, no longer the hungry challenger looking up but the man everyone else is trying to knock down.
At 44, Arteta is still younger than many imagine when they hear the word "veteran", yet the Spaniard begins the new campaign with over 350 games in charge of the North London club and as the Premier League's current longest-serving boss.
In a league famous for its lack of patience with managers, Arteta has outlasted cycles of optimism and panic, expensive revolutions and emergency rebuilds, while around him benches have become revolving doors, not least among the "Big Six".
Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all begin this season under new managers, while Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United are still finding their feet after changing coaches earlier this year.
Stability could become Arsenal's greatest competitive advantage and remaining steadfast in their support of Arteta is what guided them to the promised land after three runner-up finishes.
"We have even more responsibility and more ambition than before. We know what is ahead," Reuters quoted Arteta as saying. "We know the qualities and the capacity that we have to compete with any other team. We need to prove that we belong at this level."
The question is no longer if Arsenal can win anymore, but whether they can keep winning and the squad suggests they can.
Arteta leads a group that has grown together, collecting scars before winners' medals - a collective that knows what it is to lose title races and fall short in Europe and now what it takes to finish first in the world's most demanding league.
Reaching the Champions League final, where they lost on penalties to defending champions Paris St Germain, confirmed that last season was not an isolated domestic surge but evidence of a side comfortable among Europe's elite.
Although a close-season splurge may not be on the cards, signing Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes for £75 million ($101.24 million) was a clear sign that they have no intention of resting on their laurels.
A complete midfielder who has often caused them problems in bruising encounters, Brazilian Guimaraes underlines Arsenal's determination to strengthen from a position of power rather than stand still.
"He's a warrior with a tremendous quality as well and intuition and leadership and charisma that is going to help us, that is going to really ignite something different in the team," Arteta said.
"He's going to push everybody inside the team as well and that's the type of player that we need."
Greece winger Christos Tzolis has also impressed with three goal contributions in as many pre-season games since arriving last month, with Arteta praising his 'unbelievable' work rate.
There is a different feeling around Arsenal now, with the fear of failure replaced by the expectation of excellence, and that is perhaps Arteta's greatest achievement.
He changed not only Arsenal's position but their identity, and they are no longer chasing the standard but setting it.
