Mikel Arteta: Arsenal's Ambitions Amidst Premier League Changes

Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal will have to climb higher than ever this season – and says the Premier League’s wave of new managers, led by Enzo Maresca, will force them to do it.

Arsenal face Manchester City in the Community Shield in Cardiff on Sunday, a first meeting between Arteta and Maresca since the Italian stepped into Pep Guardiola’s shoes at the Etihad Stadium. The change on the opposite bench is one of many: City are now one of nine Premier League clubs under new management.

That level of upheaval elsewhere has only sharpened the spotlight on Arsenal. With Guardiola gone and rivals in transition, the narrative around the league has tilted towards Arteta’s side as the strongest favourites to reclaim the title.

Arteta wants no part of that conversation.

New faces, higher bar

Pressed on Maresca and the shifting landscape, the Arsenal manager repeatedly widened the lens.

“Well, 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 frame the season as a straight duel with City’s new man.

Xabi Alonso’s arrival in the Premier League, plus Roberto De Zerbi’s move to Tottenham last March, only deepen the tactical pool Arteta must swim in. Remarkably, the 44-year-old is yet to face either of them in the league.

“We know this league has a lot of great managers. It is extremely difficult every week to prepare for matches against them,” he said. “This will raise our level and my level for certain, and we will try to be better.”

The message was clear: new ideas on rival touchlines will not weaken Arsenal’s grip. They will test it.

Arsenal’s edge – and their warning

Arteta was happy to talk about strengths, but not just his own.

“Every club has its strengths,” he said. “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.”

Then he turned the focus inward.

“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.”

Arteta has long championed the idea of stability. On Friday, he sharpened that stance.

“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.”

Stability, in other words, is now the floor, not the ceiling.

Rice, Saka and the new boys

Team selection for Cardiff will go to the wire. Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are both subject to late fitness checks after a punishing summer.

A gruelling World Cup followed a demanding 2025-26 campaign in which both carried physical issues yet still drove Arsenal’s title push. They only returned to training this week. Arteta will weigh their condition carefully before deciding whether to throw them straight back into competitive action against City.

Two players who are pushing hard to be involved are summer signings Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis. The Community Shield offers a first competitive glimpse of both in an Arsenal shirt, against a City side who beat the Gunners twice in three meetings last season, including the League Cup final at Wembley.

A new-look City, a refreshed Arsenal, and a trophy on the line. The stage is hardly gentle.

Life after Pep

The obvious question lingers: with Guardiola gone, do City still stand as Arsenal’s main obstacle?

Asked whether City remain their biggest rival for the title, Arteta refused to narrow the field.

“We will have a lot of competitors,” he replied. “When looking at the squads, the managers, and the clubs they belong to, but we know that.”

His closing words set the tone for the months ahead.

“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, against the club that has defined the Premier League era. If Arsenal really are the team to beat now, they are about to find out how heavy that tag feels.