After 22 barren years, Arsenal are on the verge of winning the Premier League title. Their style may not be popular, but success will be vindication for Mikel Arteta’s transformative work at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal are so close they can almost reach out and touch it. After finishing second three seasons in a row, it is looking highly probable that Arsenal will finally win the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years. The journey has been far from straightforward, and some fans probably began to wonder whether Mikel Arteta would ever get them over the line, with those fears likely peaking after Arsenal lost to Manchester City on April 19, a result that appeared to suggest Pep Guardiola’s men had all the momentum even though the Gunners retained their place at the top.
However, Arsenal have since won all three of their matches following that defeat, while Manchester City’s instant-classic 3-3 draw with Everton swung the pendulum back in favour of Arteta’s side. Now, with only relegated Burnley at home and a trip to Crystal Palace – who will likely be distracted by their Conference League final – remaining, Arsenal won the title in 86.5% of Opta’s latest 10,000 supercomputer simulations. The mathematical likelihood of a historic championship is overwhelming.
At no point in the past six and a half years has the path been straightforward, but Arteta has almost completed the Arsenal renaissance he set out to inspire in December 2019. Assuming they hold on, the jubilation at the Emirates Stadium will be hard to contain, and the Spaniard will be revered for ending a barren run that extended beyond two decades. For Gunners fans, vindication will be complete. For many others, however, the focus of discussion around Arsenal’s potential title win might not be quite so enthusiastic.
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The Playing Style Debate
Purely in terms of playing style, Arsenal will probably be one of the least popular Premier League champions ever. Gunners fans will not care, and who would blame them after 22 years of hurt? But talk will quickly turn to how they achieved success, focusing particularly on their innovative yet controversial approach to the game.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you will be well aware of Arsenal’s set-piece prowess. Long an under-utilised facet of the game, Arteta sensed this was an area in which his team could make gains to bridge the gap to the best teams in the league. They have since made corners arguably their biggest strength, and they have been at the forefront of the Premier League’s set-piece revolution.
A commonly held opinion is that such a focus on set-pieces has had a detrimental impact on the quality of football, making it less entertaining than the high-octane attacking displays of previous title winners. But no one can say it has not been effective. The numbers speak for themselves with remarkable clarity and consistency.
Arsenal’s Set-Piece Dominance
Over the past three seasons, Arsenal have scored 60 Premier League goals from corners – 11 more than any other team in that period. After Tottenham in second place with 49 corner goals, the teams with the next most goals from corners over the same period have 39 each, including West Ham and Liverpool. That differential demonstrates how much more effective Arsenal have been than the rest of the league in converting these opportunities.
But there is a perception that such efficiency at set-pieces has had a direct and adverse effect on Arsenal’s quality in open play. The narrative suggests a trade-off: gain from dead-ball situations at the expense of flowing attacking football.
In the context of this campaign, Arsenal’s 41 goals from open play does not seem hugely alarming when it is noted that only Liverpool (43) and Manchester City (62) have managed more. However, what is eyebrow-raising is Arsenal’s record compared to previous Premier League champions. Arsenal have averaged just 1.08 open-play goals per game in the Premier League this season. With two matches remaining, that figure may change, but given what we have seen this term, that is unlikely to deviate drastically.
Historical Context of Open-Play Goals
The question becomes whether 1.08 open-play goals per game represents a significant achievement or a concerning deficiency. To answer this, we can examine the per-game average of open-play goals for every team to have won the Premier League. Arsenal are on course to set a new record low – the worst among all Premier League champions.
The existing record low came in the inaugural Premier League season, when Manchester United won the 1992-93 title having averaged just 1.17 open-play goals per game. To avoid finishing the season with a lower average than that, Arsenal would need to score at least four open-play goals over their final two matches of the campaign. This would see them conclude 2025-26 having averaged 1.18 open-play goals per game. Essentially, they would need to score open-play goals at twice the rate they have managed across their first 36 matches of the season.
Arsenal’s record becomes even starker when considered in the context of recent Premier League champions. The last side to win the title having averaged under 1.5 open-play goals per game was Leicester City in 2016, achieving an average of 1.21. Since then, title winners have averaged 1.84 open-play goals on a per-game basis, ranging from 1.61 by Chelsea in 2016-17 to 2.24 by Manchester City in 2017-18, which represents a Premier League record.
The Gunners are also on track to post a record low for total open-play goals by title winners. They would require five more goals just to draw level with the 46 tallied by Leicester 10 years ago. By comparison, Liverpool scored 67 open-play goals on their way to the title in the previous season.
Historical Open-Play Goals Record by Champions
| Season | Club | Goals Per Game | Total Goals | Record Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992-93 | Manchester United | 1.17 | – | Previous Low |
| 2016-17 | Chelsea | 1.61 | – | Modern Era |
| 2017-18 | Manchester City | 2.24 | – | All-time High |
| 2021-22 | Liverpool | 1.76 | 67 | Recent Era |
| 2025-26 | Arsenal | 1.08 | 41 | Current Low (if completed) |
| 2015-16 | Leicester City | 1.21 | 46 | Pre-recent Era |
Set-Piece Record-Breaking
Of course, the flipside to all of this is that Arsenal are at the far end of the spectrum when it comes to set-piece efficiency among title winners. If they do not score again from set-pieces, excluding penalties, their 23 goals from them will be joint-most by Premier League champions, equalling Manchester United’s haul of 23 in 2012-13, achieved at a rate of 0.61 per game.
If Arsenal get just one more set-piece goal, they will break that particular record both in terms of total and per-game average. Compare this to Liverpool’s previous season performance, where they scored 10 set-piece goals over the campaign at a rate of 0.26 per game, which ranks as joint-third lowest in history for Premier League champions.
As mentioned, it is Arsenal’s effectiveness at corners that has largely developed their unrivalled set-piece reputation. It appears they have a near-perfect blend of brilliant set-piece takers, physical and aerially dominant players to load the box with, and an imaginative set-piece coach in Nicolas Jover. This combination has proven devastatingly effective.
It is certainly not been a one-off season when it comes to the nuisance their corners represent. In one particular respect, they found a new level in 2025-26 as they have already broken one notable record. Their 17 goals from corners in 2025-26, which Tottenham have matched, surpassed the previous record by any team in a Premier League season, not just the champions. West Brom set that benchmark with 16 goals in 2016-17 for a 38-game campaign, which Arsenal equalled in 2023-24.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this translates to Arsenal being on track to score the greatest proportion of non-penalty goals from set-pieces among all Premier League champions, with 35.9% of theirs coming via dead-ball situations. In fact, no other Premier League champions have even gone above 30% from set plays. The current record belongs to Manchester United’s 2007-08 title-winning side, who got 29.7% of their non-penalty goals from set-pieces.
That also means Arsenal’s 64.1% of non-penalty goals coming in open play will be comfortably the lowest by a team to win the Premier League, assuming they get the job done without scoring a sudden glut of open-play efforts. Before this season, the smallest proportion of non-penalty goals scored in open play by Premier League champions was 70.3%, achieved by Manchester United in 2007-08.
Set-Piece Goals Record by Champions
| Metric | Arsenal (2025-26) | Man United (2012-13) | Liverpool (2024-25) | League Average (2025-26) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set-piece goals | 23 | 23 (joint-most) | 10 | 0.74 per game |
| Per-game average | 0.61 | 0.61 | 0.26 | – |
| Percentage of goals | 35.9% | 29.7% | 13% | 29.3% |
| Corner goals | 17 | – | – | – |
| Record status | Joint-most/tied | Joint-most | Joint-3rd lowest | – |
The League-Wide Context
There is no two ways about it: if Arsenal win the 2025-26 Premier League title, they will be both the least-effective champions at scoring in open play and the most-effective champions at scoring from set-pieces. But does it matter?3
Arsenal’s open-play output and set-piece efficiency are nothing new. In some circles, these statistics have almost been used to illegitimise their title charge at times this season. But as we have noted, the fact that only two teams have scored more than their 41 open-play goals suggests it is a league-wide issue and certainly not specific to Arsenal.
After all, the Premier League has seen 1.8 open-play goals per game on average this season. It was last lower in 2009-10, when it averaged 1.76. Only seven campaigns in the Premier League era have averaged fewer open-play goals per game than 2025-26.
Similarly, the league has seen an average of 0.74 set-piece goals per game this term, the third most in a single season behind 2010-11 (0.76) and 2009-10 (0.79). Looking at the proportion of goals scored in open play, 70.7% this season is the third lowest ever in the Premier League, while 29.3% from set-pieces is the third highest.
Perhaps all of this does mirror a dip in the entertainment on offer and quality of football in the Premier League this season – it is subjective, though hardly a rare opinion. Maybe it does all come back to Arsenal, because other teams have seen them having such success with set-pieces and then followed their example. But does any of this make it a problem worthy of criticism?
Arsenal’s Path to Title and Performance Comparison
| Metric | Arsenal | Liverpool (Previous) | Man City (Record) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open-play goals per game | 1.08 | 1.76 | 1.82 |
| Total open-play goals | 41 | 67 | 62 |
| Set-piece goals | 23 | 10 | 15 |
| Set-piece goals per game | 0.61 | 0.26 | 0.39 |
| Non-penalty goals from set-pieces | 35.9% | 13% | 17% |
| Non-penalty goals from open play | 64.1% | 87% | 83% |
| Matches remaining | 2 | Completed | Completed |
| Title probability (Opta) | 86.5% | – | – |
The Broader Perspective on Football Evolution
Truthfully, it would be wonderful if every match was exhilarating and exhibited engrossing attacking football, but that is not how the sport works even at the best of times. Football is an ever-evolving beast; times change, trends come and go. Teams and managers must adapt to circumstances and exploit advantages wherever they exist.
The Pep Guardiola versus Jürgen Klopp era produced several record-breaking seasons in many respects, but such periods cannot go on forever, and that also applies to philosophical and stylistic trends. Arteta just happens to have positioned Arsenal as a team to capitalise on the power vacuum that was always likely to appear eventually at the top of the Premier League. His astute assessment that set-pieces could help them close the gap to rival clubs does not make him an enemy of the sport – it is simply proof that he is a very good manager.
Guardiola was rightly lauded for influencing considerable change across the Premier League after he joined Manchester City. The broader league data this season suggests Arteta has done something similar, or at the very least been one of the leading players in a philosophical shift within English football. Whether this represents an improvement or decline in entertainment value remains subjective, but the effectiveness is undeniable.
Only time will tell if that shift sticks to the same degree as the change inspired by Guardiola. But either way, and regardless of whether you enjoy watching Arsenal, Arteta is on the verge of doing what no other Gunners boss has accomplished for 22 years: winning the Premier League. That is vindication enough.
Read More: Chelsea vs Man City FA Cup 2026 Final: Seven Factors That Could Decide the Encounter
FAQs
When did Arsenal last win the Premier League?
Arsenal F.C. last won the Premier League in the 2003–04 season.
Why are Arsenal’s attacking numbers unusual?
Arsenal average just 1.08 open-play goals per game, unusually low for potential champions.
How strong have Arsenal been from set-pieces?
They have scored 23 set-piece goals this season, including a record 17 from corners.
How has Mikel Arteta changed Arsenal?
Mikel Arteta has built a tactically disciplined side heavily focused on set-piece efficiency and aerial dominance.
