Mikel Arteta on Premier League Shake-Up and Arsenal's Ambitions
Mikel Arteta believes the managerial shake-up across the Premier League – and the arrival of Enzo Maresca at Manchester City – could be exactly what drives Arsenal to an even higher gear.
On Sunday in Cardiff, the Community Shield will bring Arteta and Maresca together on opposite sides for the first time since the Italian stepped into Pep Guardiola’s old seat at the Etihad. The backdrop is striking: City without Guardiola, nine clubs starting the season with new managers, and Arsenal widely tipped as the team to beat.
Arteta wants no part of the favourites tag.
He praised Maresca, Chelsea’s former manager, and the new faces around him, but quickly widened the lens.
“The competition will be with a number of managers too, alongside Maresca, and with some of the new managers who have joined the league, who are exceptional too,” he said, refusing to let the narrative settle solely on City’s new man.
Names like Xabi Alonso and Roberto De Zerbi underline his point. Alonso, the Basque coach now in the Premier League, is yet to go head-to-head with Arteta. De Zerbi, in charge at Tottenham since March, is another tactical problem he has not yet had to solve. Different styles, different ideas, all landing at once in a league that was already unforgiving.
“We know this league has a lot of great managers. It is extremely difficult every week to prepare for matches against them. This will raise our level and my level for certain, and we will try to be better,” Arteta said.
The Arsenal manager framed the title race as a clash of contrasting strengths.
“Every club has its strengths. Some clubs because of the many victories they have achieved over the past ten years, some because of their squads, and some because of the money they have spent,” he explained.
Arsenal, he insisted, have built something different.
“We know our strengths, and they are linked to what we have delivered over the past four or five years in a very consistent manner, but we can also be better, and that is what we are focusing on to maintain this consistency.
“I have called the matter stability, but I do not want to be stable, I want to be better and more ambitious. That is what we want.”
Team selection for Cardiff, though, is far from stable.
A late decision looms over Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka. Both returned to training only this week after a draining World Cup on the back of a demanding 2025-2026 campaign, one in which they carried heavy minutes and played through physical issues. Arteta will wait as long as possible before ruling them in or out against City.
The Community Shield could also offer a first real glimpse of Arsenal’s summer rebuild. Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis are pushing to make their competitive debuts in red and white, tasked with making an immediate impact against a City side that still holds the psychological edge after winning two of the three meetings last season, including the League Cup final at Wembley.
Guardiola may have gone, but the question hangs over the fixture: are City still Arsenal’s main obstacle?
Asked directly whether City remain the primary rival for the title, Arteta pushed back.
“We will have a lot of competitors,” he said. “When looking at the squads, the managers, and the clubs they belong to, but we know that.”
His message kept circling back to one theme: control what you can control.
“We need to focus on ourselves and make sure we get the maximum out of all the resources we have, to give ourselves the best possible chance. And after that, day by day, it will be a very long journey.”
That journey starts in Cardiff, under new faces in familiar dugouts, with Arsenal trying not just to stay stable, but to prove that stability is now their launchpad, not their ceiling.
