Mikel Arteta on Premier League Managers and Arsenal's Ambition
Mikel Arteta believes the new wave of Premier League managers – starting with Enzo Maresca at Manchester City – can sharpen Arsenal’s edge rather than soften their dominance.
The Arsenal manager faces Maresca for the first time on Sunday in the Community Shield in Cardiff, the Italian stepping into the enormous void left by Pep Guardiola at Etihad Stadium. It is a symbolic curtain-raiser: the champions against the Guardiola heir, Arteta against the latest coach trying to knock him off his perch.
Arteta has no doubts about the man in the opposite dugout.
He backed the former Chelsea head coach to do an “unbelievable job” at City and sees Maresca as part of a broader shift. City are just one of nine Premier League clubs under new management this season, a churn that has helped fuel the belief that Arsenal are clear favourites to retain their title.
Arteta wants no part of that narrative.
‘I don’t want to be stable’
In his Friday news conference, he pushed back against the idea that this is simply Arteta v Maresca, or Arsenal v a post-Guardiola City. He pointed to a league suddenly loaded with fresh ideas and familiar threats.
“Well, [rivalry] with a few managers as well [as Maresca] and some new ones coming into the league that are exceptional as well,” he said, name-checking the wider cast without dwelling on individuals.
Xabi Alonso, another Basque coach, has arrived. Roberto De Zerbi is now at Tottenham, a coach Arteta has yet to face since the Italian’s March appointment. Around them, more change, more unknowns.
“We know this league is full of incredible managers. It is so challenging every week to prepare games against them. That will elevate our level and my level for sure and we will try to be better.
“Every club would have their strengths. Some because they have won a lot in the last 10 years, some because of the squads, some because of the money they have spent.
“We know ours and ours is related to what we have been producing for the last four or five years in a really consistent way, but as well, we can be better and that is what we are focusing on to sustain that consistency.
“You called it stability, but I don’t want to be stable, I want to be better and more ambitious. That is what we want.”
The message is clear: Arsenal’s recent success is a platform, not a comfort blanket.
Rice, Saka and new faces
Team selection for Cardiff will go down to the wire.
Arteta will make a late decision on the fitness of Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, both only back in training this week after a draining World Cup and a 2025-26 campaign in which each had to nurse fitness issues while still driving Arsenal’s title push.
Their minutes will be closely managed. Their importance is not in doubt.
Waiting in the wings are the summer recruits. Bruno Guimarães and Christos Tzolis are poised for competitive debuts, adding fresh colour to a side that already knows how to win. Their first serious test could hardly be tougher.
City, even without Guardiola, still loom large. They took two of the three meetings with Arsenal last season, including the Carabao Cup final at Wembley. That memory lingers. So does the sense that, whatever the changes in the dugout, City remain a benchmark.
Asked whether City are still Arsenal’s main obstacle in the title race, Arteta refused to narrow the field.
“We will have a lot of challengers,” he said. “Looking at the squads, at the managers and at the clubs they are, but we know that.
“We need to focus on ourselves and making sure that we maximise every resource we have to give ourselves the best chance. Then, day by day, it is going to be a long, long run.”
The Community Shield will not decide that race. It will, however, offer a first glimpse of how Arteta’s champions handle a league reshaped by new faces and new ideas – and how ready they are to stay one step ahead of them all.
