Mikel Arteta has vowed to make Arsenal “the best club in the world” as they prepare to defend their Premier League title this Friday at home to Coventry City. 

Arteta ended Arsenal’s 22-year wait for top-flight glory in 2025-26 as they beat Manchester City to the crown, ending a run of three consecutive second-place finishes. 

The Gunners also reached the Champions League final, but fell short of lifting the trophy after losing on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain following a 1-1 draw in normal time. 

Since then, Arsenal have gone about improving their squad for the upcoming campaign, with Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis their two standout pieces of business. 

It has also been reported that a £51m deal has been agreed to sign Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa, and Arteta said Arsenal will continue to target the elite players that will take the club to the very top. 

“It’s certainly the ambition of the club and the owners to be the best club in the world,” Arteta said. 

“In order to do that, you need the best facilities, the best stadium, the best supporters, and you need the best squad and the best players in the world.

“Those are the ones that win you football matches and the ones that can be decisive when it matters.

“That’s what we try to build with the actual players that we have, and with the players that we want to sign to make the difference for Arsenal.”

Back home soon pic.twitter.com/2Ea4Niv7h7

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 19, 2026

Arteta will be hoping to put on a show in their Premier League opener against a Coventry side who are back in the top flight for the first time since 2000-01.

It’s the first Premier League meeting between Arsenal and Coventry since February 2001, and in that time, the Sky Blues dropped as low as League Two before bouncing back.

They are now back in the Premier League and have had a busy summer transfer window, spending close to £100m on eight new players, including the arrival of Sidiki Cherif from Fenerbahce, which was announced on Wednesday. 

And Coventry owner Doug King believes the signings are more than capable of helping the Sky Blues survive, also adding that Frank Lampard is focused on the club’s “big moment” back in the Premier League. 

“They’re quality players that we wanted to join the football club, and I think that’s important,” added King.

“We are targeting players that we choose, and who we were able to sell the project to. It shows we’re in a decent position when our targets want to join us.

“I’m really excited that we’ve added to a squad that I felt won the Championship in style last year.

“There’s a lot of change going on, but we’ve kept the core of the players who got us promoted. We’ve added new players, and I think they’re bedded in well.

“Frank [Lampard] is focused. It’s a big moment for us all. We’ll do our best to execute it the best we can.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Arsenal – Christos Tzolis

Since joining Arsenal from Club Brugge, Tzolis has been one of the Gunners’ standout performers in pre-season, and that was on show in the Community Shield. 

He became only the second Arsenal player to assist 2+ goals on his debut for the club since Willian in September 2020 (against Fulham). 

In fact, since the start of March, Tzolis has either scored or assisted in all 15 of his competitive appearances at club level (10 goals, 15 assists). 

15 – Since the start of March, Christos Tzolis has either scored or assisted in all 15 of his competitive appearances at club level (10 goals, 15 assists).

Gift. https://t.co/zVjvY95peI

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 17, 2026

Coventry – Haji Wright

Only Zan Vipotnik (23) and Oliver McBurnie (18) scored more Championship goals last season than Wright (17), and he will now get a crack at the Premier League. 

He was, however, restricted to just two substitute appearances for the United States at this summer’s World Cup, so Lampard will be hoping his star striker is well rested ahead of a tough test against the champions. 

MATCH PREDICTION: ARSENAL WIN

Arsenal and Coventry have only faced each other in the opening league game of a season once – in 1993-94, the Sky Blues won 3-0 at Highbury. 

But Lampard’s team come up against an Arsenal side that have won their opening match in each of the last four Premier League seasons. The Gunners have only won their first match in five in a row once before in their league history, doing so between 2001-02 and 2005-06.

Arsenal – who won their final five league games en route to winning the title last season – are hug favourites. They have won each of their three MD1 Premier League games as reigning champions, with two of those coming against promoted sides (Nottingham Forest in 1998-99 and Birmingham in 2002-03).

This is Coventry’s first Premier League match in 25 years and 94 days, the longest gap between games by a side in the competition’s history. They have lost their last seven away league games against the reigning top-flight champions.

It is also Coventry’s first Premier League campaign since 2000-01, when they started their season with a 3-1 defeat to Middlesbrough. They have not started a league season with a win since beating Nottingham Forest 2-1 in the Championship in 2021-22 (D2 L2 in four seasons since).

Coventry will also play their first league match at Emirates Stadium, though they have lost there in the League Cup (1-6 in 2012) and FA Cup (0-4 in 2014). Only two teams have won their first-ever league match at the ground – West Ham in April 2007 and Hull City in September 2008.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Arsenal – 79.9%

Draw – 13.1%

Coventry – 7%