It’s a case of when and not if Arsenal announce that Mikel Arteta has extended his contract at the Emirates.
The Spaniard is easily the current longest-serving manager in the Premiership, with his latest deal expected to mean he will have been in charge of the Gunners for over a decade.
Since returning to the club he captained, the 44-year-old has lifted the Premiership and FA Cup.
He was a penalty shoot-out away in the Champions League Final from doing something no man has done in our history.
To celebrate, let’s rank all of his seasons from worst to best.
I have not based this list purely on his league position but have considered context and how each campaign made me feel.
2020-2021 – 8th
For the first time in a quarter of a century, Arsenal failed to qualify for Europe, a stat that at other clubs our size would have led to a manager being sacked.
Instead of a consecutive eighth-place finish, as well as the disgraceful plans to form a Super League, Josh Kroenke was forced to sit down with Arteta, BFG and Edu to make an action plan for all departments of the business to ensure this rock bottom wouldn’t happen again.
It can’t be a coincidence that the Gunners had their worst season in 25 years when playing in empty stadiums, but COVID can’t be held entirely responsible.
For half the campaign, Ozil had been paid to sit at home before his contract was ripped up – a habit that would become too familiar.
Can a coach, on one hand, bemoan a lack of creativity in his team yet not register a World Cup winner in his squad?
2021-2022 – 5th
This campaign divided the fanbase.
Some called fifth progress.
Others argued it was achieved by the same man who took us to two eighth-place finishes.
You could also argue better man-management would have got us into the top four?
Rightly or wrongly, Arteta clearly had the trust of the owners to wash his hands of talent who didn’t suit his ethos, even if it meant the club taking a financial hit.
The only issue with that is a young manager thinking it’s normal practice to just give up on players instead of coaching them to be better.
For the second year running, one of our highest earners was being paid to sit at home.
Some Gooners will argue that, in the long term, it was crucial our manager made an example out of Aubameyang to send a message to his young dressing room that a lack of standards wouldn’t be tolerated.
Was there not a way, though, for all parties to be professional until the summer, the striker fires us back into the Champions League, and then everyone goes their separate ways?
Instead, despite having zero inclination to play his captain again, he was given to Barcelona with zero replacement brought in because the priority was slashing the wage bill.
With a straight face, our boss tried to convince us that Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah were enough firepower.
They were not!
2024-2025 – 2nd
Some would argue that Premiership runners-up and Champions League semi-finals aren’t the end of the world. Yet in sport, it’s not if you win or lose but how.
Most supporters of any club just want to see their team, on and off the pitch, try to be the best version of themselves.
In the January transfer window, Liverpool couldn’t believe their luck as Arsenal essentially waved the red flag in the title race.
I don’t think it was really Arteta’s fault. The Spaniard stressed that injuries had left his squad short in attack, so he needed some help.
Help that never arrived.
Leaving our manager having to play a midfielder up front and full-backs as attacking subs.
2019-2020 – 8th, FA Cup
While many feel he’s since proven that maybe he deserved more of a chance in North London, there’s no denying the final months of Unai Emery’s reign were miserable.
It got to the point you no longer knew what the Gunners’ identity was.
In his first job as manager, our former captain said all the right things, talking about having non-negotiable principles and not tolerating anyone who wouldn’t follow his ethos.
Was he saying what he thought Gooners wanted to hear, or was he serious?
By the end of his first season in charge, the likes of Ozil and Guendouzi were frozen out of the squad, and more would follow.
Ozil’s last game as a Gunner was to assist a winning goal. So how did he go from that to never playing for us again?
Something must have happened during the break when the sport was forced to stop due to COVID?
Such as the German refusing to take a pay cut until he knew what our billionaire owners planned to do to support non-playing staff.
The manner in which we lifted our 14th FA Cup was an early hint of Arteta’s ability to set up a team and make them hard to beat.
2023-2024 – 2nd
For the second season running, Mikel Arteta finished runners-up to his mentor, but this time his men could not be accused of bottling anything, taking the title race to the final day.
Playing arguably the most attractive football since he became a manager, Arsenal won 16 of their final 18 league fixtures, with the draw being at the Etihad.
It meant one poor half against Aston Villa cost the Gunners everything.
Before kick-off, we watched Liverpool drop points at Anfield, meaning we kicked off with our destiny in our own hands.
The pressure was too much, and along with the second leg of a Champions League quarter-final, we let the moment pass us by… again.
2022-2023 – 2nd
One of the things our ex-skipper wanted to fix when he returned to North London was the atmosphere at the Emirates, which had so often been mocked by others.
This was the season where fans fell back in love with those wearing the red and white shirt.
Arsenal flew out of the traps, and by the time the season was paused for the World Cup, they had a five-point lead at the top of the Premiership.
It was, though, the youngest squad in the division, and there was always a fear that our dressing room wouldn’t have enough leaders to get us over the line when it was squeaky-bum time.
Whereas Man City not only handled the pressure of a title race, they did so with a smile on their face; the Gunners were crippled by a fear of failure.
It was generally accepted, though, that if that group could stay together, it would one day happen for them.
2025-2026 – 1st
Mikel Arteta was smart enough to know the narrative.
While I don’t believe the Kroenke family would have lost faith, our manager knew he had to eventually get over the line, or else Gooners would become divided.
So, having tried to play a more attractive brand of football in the years before, the Spaniard reviewed what ways the Gunners could be better than Man City.
This included being creative at set-pieces and the whole team working to be the best in the division defensively off the ball.
No Premiership champions have had the criticism Arsenal had, largely due to their style of play. However, isn’t the measurement of a good coach someone who, on the training pitch, hides the negatives and accentuates the positives?
Now that he’s got over the line, more trophies should be more straightforward.
Dan Smith
Where would you rank Mikel Arteta’s seasons at Arsenal? Do you agree with Dan’s order, or is there a campaign you would move significantly higher or lower? Let us know in the comments.
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Yes. The season he won EPL and reached UCL final is his best one, despite his awful tactics when we played against PSG for the big jug
Waiting to see his ruthlessness at player selection in the next EPL game
Ist and best season for me was 2022-23 where we actually became challengers and played a good Ist half of the season. I think 2nd half of the season we tightened up because of the realisation of becoming PL champions.
2nd best season was 2023-24 where we had to dust ourselves down (after being called bottlers) and go again and narrowly missed.
3rd best was 2025-26 where we won the PL.
The rest of the other seasons are forgettable.
For me footballing wise, it’s the seasons 2022/2023 and 2023/2024. If you had added the points that Arsenal got in the first 19 games of the season 2022/2023, and the points they got in the last 19 games of the 2023/2024 season, they’d have won the League comfortably. Sadly the league is won in one season and not two.😉
But for obvious reasons, the 2025/2026 season is at the top regards finally winning the League, and getting to the Champions League Final.
I wonder if season 2026/2027 season will top it.🤔
Def 2025-2026
If you win the league after more than 2 decades of trying, I’ll take that all day long.
I find the frequent mention of the 2 8th places as relevant to a point – going backwards, but what is missed is the dire state that the club was descending into before Arteta arrived.
Gary Lineker frequently got himself into bother with the Beeb commenting on social issues at home and abroad. Ozil did the same by highlighting the plight of the Uighur people. Difficult to do when it impacts your employer. The senior squad members brought Emery down and as many of them were not good enough to mount a serious challenge anyway it took tough action to arrest the decline. Guendouzi’s petulant behaviour, Ozil offering to pay the mascot, Aubameyang turning up late were all part of the malaise.
It took a while to get the balance right and Arteta showed his team could play exciting football as has been mentioned above. If you don’t win and are up against the likes of Klopp and Guardiola it’s tough to take.
Last season was the standout just for the fact the fans emphatic celebration the afc being united in England and the world and it suppose getting that ridiculous monkey off our back
2022 was also up there. The football we played was at times out of this world and the thi g that let us down was city being so good that season and just knowing what to do at the end of the season on how to win. The team and manager inexperience probably cost us the points at times to see us getting it over the line but as i said some of the football was breath taking but you get nothing for being the best entertainers
I will take another 1-0 set piece season if we take it all the way again
And manage to lift the league.
Onwards and upwards
Now that Man City have been found guilty of nearly all the FFP counts against them, does it mean Arsenal become Champions for the seasons when Man City won by cheating and Arsenal came 2nd?
Not guaranteed
Penalties haven’t been announced yet, but looks like they will be serious. Definitely a large fine, and probably a points reduction at the very minimum. Could go as far as expulsion from the league and possibly Europe too in the most extreme scenario (like Juventus). There’s an appeal period with another hearing. City have indicated they will appeal, naturally.
We will have a clear idea around February by the looks though…
Which could drag this on for years
Expulsion can’t really happen
I got the impression that dragging on for years isn’t possible
Same – my understanding is there is a few weeks to launch an appeal, then 3-4 months of appeal review and related hearings.
There might be other legal complications. What would definitely drag the story out is a counter claim from City’s owners *if* City win an appeal.
The BBC has a good rundown article on the whole drama including who stands to benefit if their titles are cancelled.
Bergkampfwagen,
The way I heard it is City have 14 days for the initial appeal. After that, who knows. 🤷♂️
the Major charges were for up to 2018 and only failure to co-operate were till 2023 so even if they are stripped all of their titles or given retrospective pts penalty it will not affect our title challenging seasons unless they do it up till now.
However if City get relegated or punished with pts penalty for multiple upcoming seasons this benefits us massively by eliminating our closest challenger
City being certified cheats vindicates Mikel as the top manager he is. Klopp, Mourinho, Arteta all should get their plaudits. A decade of cheating from that club and the premier league should be making an example out of them. Transfer ban, huge fines, and starting with points deficits for several seasons would be better than a straight relegation they can quickly back bounce from. I don’t see how they don’t have their three titles stripped from that time period a well. And there is already precedent for clubs suing other clubs for a loss of position due to cheating and I expect most teams that were ever part of the premier league since 2008 to sue for losses.
It’s not the first Man City have been charged for financial irregularities. In 1905 their manager and their former chairman were banned for life for bribery and paying their players more than £4 players were allowed to receive. Their players were banned from ever playing for Man City again.
They also got banned by UEFA for two seasons in 2020 for cooking the books, but won at CAS on appeal. They can’t appeal to CAS on this one 🙂