Arteta Has No Excuses Left, Arsenal Are Built to Challenge for the Title
Gyökeres, Zubimendi and Madueke: Arsenal’s Plan to End the Title Drought
For all the romance that Arsenal have rekindled at the Emirates, the coming season leaves no room for sentiment. It is time to win. Mikel Arteta has been given control, capital and patience on a level that many of his predecessors could only dream of. Now he must deliver. Arsenal’s place in the title conversation is no longer conditional. They are a serious threat in a three-horse race with Manchester City and Liverpool. The excuses are spent, the gaps are closing, and with the arrival of ,artin Zubimendi and the potential additions of Victor Gyökeres and Noni Madueke, the equation shifts from potential to expectation.
Victor Gyökeres: Relentless, Ruthless and Ready
Arsenal have long needed more than just technical finesse at centre-forward. They have needed brutality. They have needed chaos. They have needed a battering ram with boots. With Victor Gyökeres, they may have found exactly that.
The Swede’s likely arrival from Sporting Lisbon, armed with the type of absurd statistics that read like typos. Ninety-seven goals in just 93 full games. Two league titles. Two top-scorer awards. But this is no flat-track bully. His style is kinetic, not cosmetic. Gyökeres is all-action, all the time. He sprints, he barges, he chases like he is hunting something. And in many ways, he is: space, defenders, loose balls, lost causes.
His signature trait is his movement. Not elegant drops into midfield to knit the play, but violent, surgical runs in behind. According to SkillCorner data, Gyökeres made 85 sprints beyond the last line of defence last season at over 25 km per hour. That is more than double the next-highest striker in Portugal and more than any in the Premier League. This is not merely running; this is targeted, purposeful aggression.
Gyökeres does not wait for attacks to build slowly around him. He creates chaos from stillness, often initiating one-man transitions after turnovers. Whether starting wide on the left or central, he hits full speed in seconds and takes defenders on journeys they do not want to go on, from centre-half to full-back, into the flanks, across the width of the box. He stretches back lines, but crucially, he fractures their shape.
Arsenal, who had the lowest proportion of attacking touches in the left third of any Premier League team last season, have lacked penetration down that side. Where Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard and Ben White create layered complexity on the right, the left often feels improvised. Gyökeres instinctively drifts left to run those corridors, turning underused real estate into direct threat.
What sets him apart is not just the movement, but the end product. He scores goals from both feet, from tight angles, while contorted, while barging through contact. His biomechanics are deceptive. Built like a sprinter but supple like a gymnast, he wraps his body around shots in motion, managing to keep power and direction even when the position looks impossible. It is not unusual to see him dragging defenders behind him while still curling a finish low into the far corner.
While critics have pointed to his zero headed goals in league play last season, this is not symptomatic of weakness. Only 12 percent of his attempts came with his head and Sporting’s style rarely invited aerial bombardment. Arsenal are among the most prolific crossers in open play but among the least efficient at converting them. That is not due to poor deliveries. It is a matter of presence. Gyökeres can change that. Nearly a quarter of his touches last season came inside the penalty area. His sharpness in confined zones allows him to turn half-moments into full chances. Not every goal has to be beautiful. Some just need to count.
Arsenal, despite being one of the Premier League’s most effective sides at winning the ball high, rank poorly at turning those regains into immediate shots. Only 6.7 percent of those transitions resulted in attempts within ten seconds. Gyökeres, with his speed, intent and verticality, offers a solution. He can turn hopeful clearances into platform plays. He can chase down balls others abandon. He can create panic with presence alone.
The doubts remain. The Primeira Liga does not have the same rigour or defensive organisation as the Premier League. But the same could be said for Erling Haaland before he arrived. The key, as it was with Haaland, is whether Gyökeres can adapt in tighter spaces and punish defensive blocks that offer no room to run. Encouragingly, he has shown he can scrap and spin inside the box. Against bigger, stronger defenders in the Championship, he still found goals. He is not just a transition merchant. He is a finisher who relishes discomfort.
Mikel Arteta does not need a striker who plays pretty triangles in tight spaces. He needs someone who finishes what Saka and Ødegaard create. He needs a forward who gives centre-backs a reason to panic before the ball even arrives. He needs presence. Gyökeres has that in abundance.
Arsenal have gone shopping for a goalscorer and come back with a weapon. He gives them something different. If Arsenal are to finally end a two-decade wait for a title, this could be the edge that makes it happen.
Zubimendi: The Rhythm Arsenal Have Missed
Martin Zubimendi has already signed and with that, Arsenal’s midfield has completed a long overdue evolution. In the simplest sense, he is a defensive midfielder. But anyone who has watched him closely knows that label does not do justice to his influence on matches. Zubimendi is press-resistant, positionally faultless and relentlessly composed under pressure. His presence allows Declan Rice to operate more freely, pushing higher up the pitch in matches where Arsenal dominate possession.
What Zubimendi provides is control. In matches where space is limited and opponents sit deep, he can dictate rhythm, recycle possession and break lines quietly but consistently. His passing range is not flamboyant, but it is surgical. His ability to shift pressure and initiate sequences is Busquets-like, and Arsenal now have a player capable of turning the screw in tight games.
Liverpool wanted him. Barcelona courted him. Now he is in north London, tasked with sharpening the beating heart of a side that wants to rule English football.
Madueke: Tactical Depth or Starter-in-Waiting?
Noni Madueke is not yet an Arsenal player, but personal terms have been agreed. If the clubs can reach consensus, this is the kind of signing that reveals where Arteta sees the real battles of a Premier League season. Bukayo Saka has been heroic, often carrying the creative burden alone on the right. But there are nights when even his lungs cannot carry Arsenal to the finish line. Madueke offers something different, not just in energy, but in style.
A natural dribbler, comfortable on either foot, Madueke forces defenders into mistakes. His off-ball work still needs refining, but that is a coaching issue rather than a structural flaw. Where Saka dominates with control and incision, Madueke brings unpredictability and aggression. He stretches games, breaks patterns and creates different types of threats that Arsenal have lacked in second halves when matches need unpicking.
For a team chasing the finest of margins, this variety is essential. If the deal is completed, Arsenal will have two right-sided options who complement rather than duplicate each other. That tactical malleability could prove decisive.
No More Excuses
Mikel Arteta has long talked about culture, identity and process. Those foundations are no longer theoretical. They are visible in Arsenal’s performances, in the steeliness of their defence, in the fluidity of their possession, in the energy of their pressing. But culture alone does not win titles. Winning does.
This squad is no longer too young. It is no longer light in attack. It is no longer feeling its way through tactical refinements. This is a team with an elite spine. William Saliba and Gabriel are among the finest defensive pairings in Europe. Rice and Zubimendi bring composure and force in midfield. Ødegaard continues to orchestrate with brilliance, and in Saka, Arsenal have one of the two best wide forwards in the country. Now, with Gyökeres leading the line, they can break down stubborn mid-table sides, not just trade blows with title rivals.
Arteta has spent heavily. He has recruited well. The system is known, the roles are defined. There can be no complaints about the backing he has received. The time for patience is over. Arsenal are in this race, not as hopeful challengers, but as contenders with clarity and confidence.
This is a side that must now prove they can win at the business end of a season, not just compete. Victor Gyökeres will give them bite. Martin Zubimendi gives them poise. Noni Madueke, should he arrive, gives them layers. There is no trophy for being brave, only for being best. The Gunners must now go and be it.