2025/26 OPPOSITION FOCUS: ARSENAL

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As we gear up for the 2025/26 Premier League campaign we take a closer look at our opponents

2025-06-13T08:22:45.219Z

2025/26 OPPOSITION FOCUS: ARSENAL

As we gear up for the 2025/26 Premier League campaign we take a closer look at our opponents

2025-06-13T08:22:45.219Z

As we gear up for the 2025/26 Premier League campaign we take a closer look at our opponents

Today we take a look at the Gunners...

What’s their history?

Founded in 1886 as 'Dial Square Football Club' before rebranding as 'Royal Arsenal', the Gunners won the Kent Senior Cup, London Charity Cup & London Senior Cup and would go on to become the first club from the capital to turn professional.

In 1913, they moved to Highbury and 17 years later won their first national trophy, the FA Cup. Most recently triumphant in the world’s oldest cup competition in 2020, Arsenal have now won it a record 14 times.

George Graham arrived as manager in 1986, enjoying early success in the League Cup before ending an 18-year title drought in 1989, when the Gunners famously beat Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield on the final day to lift silverware, snatching it away from the hosts in the process.

Bruce Rioch had a short stint at the helm, before Arsène Wenger was appointed in 1995. The Frenchman’s early years saw the London outfit earn numerous accolades, the most memorable a golden Premier League title courtesy of an invincible campaign in 2003/04.

The Gunners would also reach the UEFA Champions League final in 2006, losing to Barcelona, a defeat which seemingly provided a downward spiral of sorts with silverware harder to come by following a move to The Emirates.

Wenger departed in 2018 after an impressive 22-year spell in charge, replaced by Unai Emery who guided the Gunners to a UEFA Europa League final, only to be beaten by Chelsea in Baku.

In turn, he was replaced by Mikel Arteta who remains at the helm now with an FA Cup to his name and a runners-up spot in the Premier League in the previous three seasons.

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Stadium

The Gunners have called the Emirates home since 2006, after making the short move from Highbury and moving into the 60,704 capacity stadium in North London.

As well as hosting 19 Premier League campaigns for Arsenal, with it's 20th year anniversary on the horizon next summer, the arena has also hosted eight international football fixtures, with Brazil featuring in all of them.

Football isn't the only sport that has been displayed on the Emirates pitch, after the Rugby League World Cup final was played there in 2022, when England faced Samoa.

The Clarets have played there 11 times, with the first meeting in March 2009 in the FA Cup, with the last meeting between the two sides in London coming in November 2023.

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Last season

After securing back-to-back 2nd place finishes in the Premier League, Mikel Arteta guided the Gunners to another top-flight 2nd place finish last season, after narrowly missing out on the title to Manchester City the campaign before.

As well as enjoying a successful run in Europe, Arsenal reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, before losing to Newcastle United over two legs, with the Magpies going on to lift the trophy.

The Gunners then went on to reach the semi-final stages of the UEFA Champions League, after defeating the likes of Real Madrid, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting CP and Monaco on their journey to the final four.

Arteta's side eventually lost out over the two legs to eventual winners Paris Saint Germain, but the Londoners finished the 2024/25 Premier League campaign on a high with two wins from the final two games sealing a runners-up spot and UEFA Champions League football for a third consecutive season.

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Who's the boss?

Mikel Arteta was appointed as Arsenal's head coach in December 2019, taking over from Unai Emery, after serving as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City.

In his first few months, he brought renewed discipline and structure to the Gunners, leading Arsenal to win the FA Cup in 2020 by defeating Chelsea in the final in his first season, followed by the Community Shield victory over Liverpool.

Despite cup success in his early years, Arsenal finished 8th in the Premier League in both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, which saw the Spanish boss then begin a significant rebuild, focusing on youth, development and reshaping the squad with new signings.

His efforts and rebuild looked to have paid off, as the Gunners became Premier League title contenders again, after finishing 5th in the 2021/22 campaign, Arsenal went on to finish second in the next three seasons, finishing just two points off top spot in 2023/24.

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Memorable meeting

13/12/2020 - Arsenal 0 - 1 Burnley (Emirates)

The Clarets finally ended their long wait for a first win at the Emirates Stadium and a first Premier League win anywhere over the Gunners to move out of the Premier League’s bottom three with a battling performance in London.

Following a teasing Ashley Westwood in-swinging corner, a 73rd-minute headed own-goal from Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Burnley their first away win of the season in a memorable victory over the Gunners.

Burnley: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Brady, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil, Wood (Vydra 70), Rodriguez (Barnes 59)

Substitutes: Peacock-Farrell, Pieters, Long, Dunne, Benson

Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin (Maitland-Niles 74), Gabriel, Holding, Tierney, Elneny, Xhaka; Willian (Nketiah 82), Saka, Lacazette (Ceballos 61), Aubameyang

Substitutes: Runarsson, Mustafi, Willock, Smith-Rowe