Detailed Arsenal Season Preview: Insights and Predictions

Where Did Arsenal Finish Last Season?

We're back 🤩

Kickstarting pre-season at Sobha Realty Training Centre 👊 pic.twitter.com/JWDOmoiseU

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 10, 2025

Though they notched their third second-placed finish in a row, there is no doubt that Arsenal’s 2024/25 campaign saw a regression in Mikel Arteta’s process. Finishing 10 points behind champions Liverpool, and almost dropping the runners up spot to a resurgent Manchester City in the final weeks, there was little to be desired about the way the Gunners finished the campaign.

However, a Champions League semi-final, and thumping quarter-final victory over Real Madrid that will long be remembered helped boost the end of season mood - although they were far from the level they showed last season, Arteta’s side still had the nous and experience to navigate to an ugly but effective conclusion to the season.

Second place is still second place, and the prize money and notoriety from such a finish will remain the same, regardless of how convincing their performances were to get there. With Champions League football confirmed, and plenty of cash in the transfer budget, Arsenal now need to make some smart summer dealings to ensure they stay competitive.

Best Result: Arsenal 5-1 Manchester City (Odegaard 2’, Partey 56’, Lewis-Skelly 62’, Havertz 76’, Nwaneri 90+3’: Haaland 55’)

Worst Result: Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal (Christie 70’, Kluivert pen 79’)

Who Have Arsenal Signed in the Summer Transfer Window So Far?

Ebere Eze from Crystal Palace - £60 Million + £8 Million Add Ons

Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting Lisbon - £55 Million + £8.6 Million Add Ons

🚨🔴⚪️💣BREAKING: Viktor Gyokeres to Arsenal, here we go!

Arsenal verbally agree deal in principle with Sporting for package reaching €73.5M add-ons included. Decision now made on new striker for Arteta!

Player side agreed with the move now imminent.

Gyokeres set for medical… pic.twitter.com/DvLN0SEMoA

— Fabrizio Ramono (@FIabrizoRomano) July 13, 2025

Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad - £57 Million in five equal installments

Noni Madueke from Chelsea - £52 Million

Cristhian Mosquera from Valencia - £13 Million + Undisclosed Add Ons

Christian Norgaard from Brentford - £10 Million + £5 Million Add Ons

Kepa Arrizabalaga from Chelsea - £5 Million

Total Spent: £252 Million + £21.6 Million in Potential Add Ons

Who Have Arsenal Sold in the Summer Transfer Window So Far?

Nuno Tavares to Lazio - Loan made permanent for £4.2 Million

Marquinhos to Cruzeiro - £2.5 Million

Keiran Tierney to Celtic - Free Transfer

Jorginho to Flamengo - Free Transfer

Takehiro Tomiyasu - Contract Terminated

Thomas Partey - Released

Raheem Sterling to Chelsea - End of Loan

Neto to Bournemouth - End of Loan

Total Received: £6.7 Million

Arsenal 2025/26 Squad List

Goalkeepers: David Raya, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Karl Hein.

Defenders: William Saliba, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Jurrien Timber, Jakub Kiwior, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Riccardo Calafiori, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Cristhian Mosquera.

Midfielders: Martin Odegaard, Christian Norgaard, Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Fabio Vieira, Ebere Eze, Albert Sambi-Lokonga.

Attackers: Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz, Ethan Nwaneri, Reiss Nelson.

Arsenal 2025/26 Home, Away and Third Kits

Arsenal's home kit for next season is here 🔴 pic.twitter.com/hYcyNqzbZA

— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 15, 2025

Ready for new heights.

Our new 25/26 away kit has dropped on Arsenal Direct 🛒

🤝 @adidasFootball

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 21, 2025

🚨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 | Arsenal's new third kit for the 2025/26 season. 🔴✨ pic.twitter.com/rSii1MfKPI

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) August 4, 2025

What is Arsenal’s Opening Premier League Fixture?

Manchester United vs Arsenal | Old Trafford, Manchester | Sunday, August 17th, 16:30

How Can I Watch Manchester United vs Arsenal?

Arsenal’s opening game of the season will be broadcasted on Sky Sports, and although it is unclear which channel the company intend to use, it will likely be on either Sky Sports Main Event or Sky Sports Premier League.

What Are Arsenal’s First Five Fixtures of the Season?

Manchester United vs Arsenal - Sunday, August 17th

Arsenal vs Leeds United - Saturday, August 23rd.

Liverpool vs Arsenal - Sunday, August 31st.

Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest - Saturday, September 13th.

Arsenal vs Manchester City - Sunday, September 21st.

When Do Arsenal Play Rivals Tottenham Hotspur in 2025/26?

Always one to circle on the Premier League calendar, the North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham never fails to entertain.

Arsenal vs Tottenham - TBC.

Tottenham vs Arsenal - TBC.

Last Five Meetings:

- 15/01/2025: Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham.

- 15/09/2024: Tottenham 0-1 Arsenal.

- 28/04/2024: Tottenham 2-3 Arsenal.

- 24/09/2023: Arsenal 2-2 Tottenham.

- 15/01/2023: Tottenham 0-2 Arsenal.

Who Is Arsenal’s Manager for 2025/26?

The man at the helm for over five and a half years now, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta is now the second longest-serving manager in the Premier League, trailing only Man City’s Pep Guardiola.

For such a long spell in charge of a club so steeped in history, many would have thought trophies would be flowing by now for the Spaniard - but as of yet they haven’t materialised, with his 2019/20 FA Cup success the only silverware on his Arsenal resume. Arteta will be feeling more than a little pressure. Into his sixth full campaign with the Gunners, this season needs to show tangible evidence that they are capable of competing for the major trophies.

A Champions League and League Cup semi-final last year showed they are close, but other sides will only start taking them seriously when they start making (and winning) finals. However, with a recognised world class striker finally joining the club in Viktor Gyokeres, Arteta’s system can now only be edging closer to long-awaited glory.

Who is Arsenal’s Player to Watch?

Viktor Gyokeres

And that brings us nicely onto their player to watch. Viktor Gyokeres, who has arguably been the deadliest striker in the world for the last two seasons, has finally landed his first big move, after a dominant spell with Sporting Lisbon in Portugal that brought two league titles and a domestic cup.

Fabrizio Romano: "Calma, Arsenal made important progress. Arsenal are in very advanced talks for Viktor Gyokeres and that doesn’t change."

"So it remains advanced. It remains concrete. It remains absolutely on."☺️ pic.twitter.com/43ZtX7hMGZ

— UpYourArsenal🔴⚪🔴⚪♥️ (@UPYOURARSENAL04) July 10, 2025

Arteta’s style of play has been calling for a striker since his first weeks in charge, but so far, the likes of Kai Havertz, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Jesus and Mikel Merino (to an extent) have all proved incapable of providing that out and out goal scoring instinct.

Gyokeres will change all that - the Swedish international has scored 97 goals in 102 games in Portugal, and if he can bring even half of that goal per game ratio to North London, Arsenal could be transformed into legitimate title contenders, able to launch a sustained attack on reigning champions Liverpool.

A move months in the making, it is time to see whether the Swedish destroyer can bring his A-game to the Premier League, having already failed to impress while at Brighton five years ago. If he can bring carry his form from Portugal over the channel, fans will have no choice but to place him in the Erling Haaland and Aleksander Isak bracket as one of the best strikers in the world.

Arsenal 2025/26 Season Prediction

Arsenal now have all the tools at their disposal to seriously challenge for and win the biggest titles: They have a superb manager, mentored by the best in the business, at the helm; They have a crop of superb, talent developed by their own youth academy in Bukayo Saka, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly; and they seem to have signed the final piece of the puzzle after signing the Swedish sensation that is Viktor Gyokeres.

The only remaining ingredient for success that Arteta and his side are yet to exemplify, and that is a winning mentality. Yes, they have notched more than a handful of impressive victories under the Spaniards watch, and they are now consistently reaching the latter stages of both domestic and continental competitions. However, they are just as convincingly falling at the final few hurdles, unable to take that leap back into the winners circle that they so desperately crave.

With a replenished midfield and the shiny new striker his set-up has been yearning for, Arteta knows this campaign presents as good an opportunity as any to push for silverware - all he must do know is pray that he does not encounter Arne Slot's Liverpool.

Football Park's Prediction: 2nd