Mikel Arteta faced the media on Thursday afternoon before the final game of our title-winning Premier League season against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The boss discussed the moment we were crowned champions, the celebrations on Tuesday night and the emotions behind seeing all of our supporters celebrating:
on hearing the words that we’re Premier League Champions:
Yes, it’s incredible to hear them, especially understanding the journey, the manner that we’ve done it and how many people have been involved and waiting for so long to accomplish that goal.
on how he felt after the result on Tuesday:
It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. I was supposed to be here, at Sobha, watching the game with the boys and the staff, because that’s what they wanted, but I couldn’t. I think 20 minutes later, before the game, I had to leave. I couldn’t bring the energy that I wanted and I think it was the moment as well to watch it together, to be themselves and just see what the outcome would be. I went home, I went outside to the garden, I started to build some fire and I started to do some barbecue, I didn’t watch any of it. I was just hearing some noises in the background, in the living room and suddenly the magic happened. My oldest son opened the garden door, he started to run towards me, he started to cry, he gave me a hug and said ‘We are champions, daddy.” Then my other two boys and my wife came over and it was beautiful. Just to see that joy on them as well, that they are always with me, it was magical. A minute later, Martin [Odegaard] was on the video, ‘where are you,’ he said, ‘come over,’ I said guys enjoy it for a while and see you in a few hours somewhere in London.
on seeing the reaction of the players:
After watching the videos, it was their moment, and they had to be themselves in that moment, and if I’m there, I think it wouldn’t be the same. I’m glad they did it that way, they enjoyed it so much and the staff were all over the place and we had our moment together a few hours later.
on the messages he received after winning the league:
To be fair, it’s a bit different when you’re finishing second and when you win it, and that’s sport and it’s a big lesson in life as well, because the margins are so small and it can go either way and when you just accomplish it, you realise just how immense it is, how big it is for so many people. Just to witness the happiness, the enjoyment, all the things that I’ve seen from all our supporters, families in different countries, it’s just so so good.
on beating Pep Guardiola and Manchester City to the title:
They’ve been a huge part of that journey and Pep has been a huge part of that journey. First of all because I started my coaching career with him and then because, not only Pep and Man City, but the other opponents as well in the league and all the colleagues that we have in the league. They continue to raise the standards to crazy levels in this league, and the only thing that it has provoked in myself, the players, the staff and the club is to be obligated to raise those levels and those standards to try to be better than that. Over the last few years, we’ve been very, very close and this time, thankfully, we managed to win it.
on if there was a moment where he believed we would win the league:
It’s been so many and probably I need a bit more time to reflect on that. We have so much footage that probably it will explain a little bit the story of the season. One of the main ones was a meeting that we had here next to the tree, when I brought all the players together and I told them: ‘Look at each other, look at the squad that we built over the summer, we are capable of everything and we can be very, very good. But it only depends on us and our behaviours and everybody understanding the role that it’s going to have daily or on the day to give the best for the team.’ Once they realised that, I think we went to a different level because you see the impact everyone has had on different games.
on Mikel Merino and Jurrien Timber:
Mikel is going to start to train with the group tomorrow, today he’s done a little bit, it was just a very light session obviously, and Jurrien let’s hope he can do the same in the next few days, but he’s still a little bit further behind than Mikel at the moment.
on the support around the stadium after winning the league:
We all are responsible, and I really want to make that clear, there’s been so many people in this journey throughout the years, not only since I’ve been here, but as well obviously everything that Arsene built, even though we didn’t achieve the Premier League. It was an explosion, an emotional explosion, because everybody’s been just, you know, keeping emotions, and lifting those emotions, but not being able to really express them. So when we opened that bottle, I think everybody had so much to release and it’s been incredible to witness.
on if he would encourage people to keep on celebrating:
They have to do what they feel, and so far, I think what they have created around the club and the team is incredible to witness. That chemistry, that connection, that passion, it’s something beautiful. I mean, the trophy is great, but that is, in my opinion, something even bigger.
on if he’s spoken to Andoni Iraola yet:
I didn’t message him, no. I called him. I called him yesterday, first of all to congratulate him for the incredible job that he’s done with Bournemouth. Obviously, I said, you almost took the Premier League away from us and now you helped us to win it. So a quick call to say thank you, as well to show my admiration towards him and wishing the best in the next chapter of his career, which I’m sure is going to be very, very successful.
on what was the hardest part of the journey:
I think the start was tough, because I think when you build the club, the team, into a zone where the only thing that is left is to win it, and then the margin is so small, especially with our competitors, it’s to see, can the team handle that kind of pressure from the beginning? Because we remember the conversation, the press conference in September and October, if you guys don’t win, the league it’s over, and it’s still eight or nine months to play. So to play with that on your back constantly is not easy, and that’s probably been one of the toughest moments. That’s why when I said to him, we won the league, but I’m the most proud, it’s how we won it. Because we showed, I think, a very important value, not only in sport, but in life as well, which is perseverance, to be resilient, to be composed in moments when people are doubting, to be vulnerable, because I’ve asked that question to myself, am I good enough to lead this team, this club, these players, to win a major trophy? Until you do it, you cannot validate yourself, and I thought about many ways, ‘what is the best way to do it? We have to bring people from outside and speakers to inspire them.’ Then you have to find your own way. The big lesson here is to stay humble, stay curious, and focus on the point of what you want to achieve, and you give your very best, you give yourself a good chance, and we’ve given ourselves a very good chance for three years, and this season we’ve done it.
on the reward the team has had:
Yes, the thing is, now of course you want more, and we have the biggest one to play in Budapest in a few days. But it’s been extremely rewarding because we know what we’ve been through, and we know that we’re going to step by step, and when we haven’t reached, because sometimes somebody else is better, has better resources, has a better capacity to do that, to accept that and be humble then to say I’m not going to stop, but I’m going to improve, I’m going to reinvent myself. And I think that’s going to be a theme here in this team, which is that if with this we don’t have enough, we need to think about other things that we have to do to make that a step, and we’ve been very creative and very stubborn in that process, but you know.
on if he feels vindicated by his decisions:
Nobody knows that, and I’m sure that somebody else would have done things in a different way and maybe achieved the same objective or better or earlier, so I don’t know. What I’m sure of is that I follow my instinct. I try to represent the values of this football club and all the people. I’m extremely grateful to all the people who have been in that process. I don’t have to name them because they know who they are because I have made sure that they feel part of this ownership as well. After all, when I joined, they were in a place and they deserve all the credit for what they’ve done with this football club and especially, again, the manner that they’ve done it and the way they have inspired everybody at the club, and then, for me personally, it’s a massive one because 22 years is a long time.
on his team meeting by the tree at the training ground:
The location and the topic because normally we have a lot of people and the staff there, it was the players and me, and we talk about the role. What is my role? How do I feel about them? and every decision I make is to try to impact their lives in a positive way, and any decision that I make is because it’s my job to make it, so don’t take it personally and just try to sum up and impact the team in the manner that we can, and it was one of them, but I think that to extract the best qualities of the players and all the resources that we had in the squad, I think that one was important.
on when the meeting was:
The week that we started the Premier League, before Man United away.
on what he’s said to the players before Sunday:
We have 48 hours to enjoy the success of winning the league. Now, tomorrow and Saturday, we’re going to prepare really well because we need to now lift again our habits and the standards that we normally do things to be in the best possible way to compete. On Sunday, we’ll have a little window there again to celebrate, to lift the trophy in a manner that deserves it, to connect with the people that we have constantly around us. But then we have six days that we need to write a new history in this football club.
on if he feels different having won the Premier League:
It changes because the level of emotion that you feel is something probably that I haven’t felt before, and as a manager and as a player, it’s different. It’s really incredible. The last 48 hours have been so much fun and enjoyment, and great to live it.
on when the season was toughest:
I think I said it a few weeks ago. I think you have to, in our job, you have to respect every opinion. I think the difficulty is to place those opinions in the place that they belong. Because some of them can be extremely useful, and they can help you to be better, to see or to appreciate something differently, or to open your eyes to something that maybe you don’t have the capacity to look at. But others can be just damaging, and the only purpose is towards that. I think they have to be really far from you. Otherwise, it’s going to affect you in a way that obviously you cannot transmit it to the team. And that cannot happen as a manager.
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
