What Arsenal must do next: title triumph cannot be the end of the story | OneFootball

For Arsenal, the challenge has changed. After finally ending a 22-year wait for a Premier League title, Mikel Arteta no longer has to prove he can win major trophies.

He has done that. The question now is whether he can build a dynasty. The scenes that greeted Arsenal’s open-top bus parade through north London spoke volumes. Hundreds of thousands of supporters celebrated a campaign that delivered the club’s first league title since 2004.

Yet less than 24 hours earlier, many of the same players had been left devastated after falling agonisingly short in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain. 

That contrast perfectly captures Arsenal’s current position.

This season was a triumph. Next season will be about sustaining success.

The good news for Arteta is that Arsenal are not a team that has unexpectedly climbed to the summit. They have been building towards this moment for years.

Three consecutive second-place league finishes eventually became champions. A Champions League quarter-final appearance became a semi-final, then a final. The trajectory is undeniable. 

But maintaining that upward curve is often harder than achieving it.

History is littered with teams who reached the top once but failed to stay there. Arsenal have not won back-to-back titles since the 1930s. Arteta’s task is ensuring Arsenal avoid that fate.

The first priority is obvious: strengthen from a position of power.

Arsenal’s run to the Premier League title and Champions League final exposed remarkably few weaknesses, but those weaknesses do exist.

The left side of the attack remains an area that could improve. Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard contributed important moments, but neither consistently delivered the level of goals and creativity required from a side looking to dominate domestically and in Europe. 

If Arsenal are serious about competing with Europe’s elite year after year, greater depth and unpredictability in attacking areas will be essential. Elite clubs need three elite forwards.

The same applies across the squad.

A 63-game season places enormous demands on even the strongest groups. Injuries, fatigue and fixture congestion can derail campaigns. Arteta has already shown he is willing to be ruthless when refreshing his squad and he may need to be again this summer. Additional competition at full-back, further midfield depth and more attacking firepower would all help Arsenal cope with the demands of challenging on multiple fronts. 

Perhaps the biggest lesson from this season is that modern elite football requires genuine depth rather than simply a strong starting eleven.

The idea of relying on a single elite striker or a small core of players across four competitions is increasingly unrealistic. The best clubs in Europe can rotate without significantly weakening. Arsenal must continue moving in that direction. 

The financial outlook suggests they can.

The club’s revenues are expected to approach record levels in excess of £700 million, following their Premier League triumph and deep European run, giving sporting director Andrea Berta and Arteta considerable flexibility in the transfer market. Arsenal are no longer trying to catch up financially with Europe’s elite. Increasingly, they are operating alongside them. 

Yet recruitment alone will not define next season. Arteta must also guard against complacency.

The hunger that drove Arsenal from mid-table obscurity to the top of English football cannot disappear now that silverware has arrived. One of the most impressive aspects of Arteta’s reign has been his ability to convince players that improvement is non-negotiable. That mentality must remain.

Fortunately, the dressing room appears to understand the challenge.

Declan Rice spoke after the Champions League final about wanting to return and lift the trophy Arsenal narrowly missed out on. Martin Odegaard urged his teammates to use the disappointment as motivation and come back stronger. Those are the words of a group that believes its best days still lie ahead. 

That belief matters because Arsenal’s squad is still remarkably young.

Rice, Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Gabriel, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber form the spine of a team that should improve further with experience. The scars of Budapest may ultimately prove as valuable as the joy of winning the Premier League. 

Arteta has spent six years rebuilding Arsenal from the ground up. He has restored standards, rebuilt the culture and delivered the club’s first league title in more than two decades.

The next phase is even tougher. Winning once is an achievement. Winning repeatedly while simultaneously challenging for the Champions League is what separates great teams from truly historic ones.

Arsenal have reached the summit. Now Arteta must prove they can stay there.