Worst Premier League champions ever? Why Arsenal’s title winners deserve far more respect

When Arsenal finally ended their 22-year wait for the Premier League title, the reaction across English football was strangely divided, as many supporters viewed Mikel Arteta’s side as the culmination of one of the most methodical rebuilds in recent years, a team that evolved from fragile challengers into emotionally resilient champions after years of falling short while others immediately questioned whether they were the “worst Premier League champions ever.”

The phrase had already gained traction months before Arsenal officially secured the title on May 19, with former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes questioning whether Arteta’s side possessed the quality normally associated with champions, while other pundits repeatedly pointed toward Arsenal’s relatively modest points total, pragmatic style of play and lack of attacking spectacle compared to some of the Premier League’s greatest sides.

Former Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew went even further by controversially claiming Arsenal’s title would carry “an asterisk” because both Manchester City and Liverpool endured inconsistent campaigns below their usual standards, arguing that Arteta’s side had benefited more from rivals failing to reach their historic levels than from producing a truly dominant season themselves, comments which quickly fuelled online debate.

Yet while the criticism sounds provocative, it becomes increasingly difficult to defend when examined against the wider history of the Premier League, because although Arsenal may not belong alongside Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City centurions, Jurgen Klopp’s relentless Liverpool side or Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles in discussions about the greatest champions English football has produced, describing them as the worst winners of all time ignores both the statistics and the wider context surrounding this season.

The statistics immediately weaken the argument

© Iconsport / SPI

The statistics alone immediately weaken the argument, with Arsenal securing 82 points with one game remaining, losing only five league matches and conceding just 26 goals all season, the best defensive record in the Premier League this season, numbers that place them comfortably above several previous title winners, including Manchester United in 1996-97 (75 points), 1998-99 (79), 2000-01 (80) and 2010-11 (80), as well as Leicester City in 2015-16 (81).

Nobody seriously describes Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1999 treble-winning Manchester United side as the worst champions in Premier League history because football understands context, with that United team sacrificing league consistency at times while competing across multiple competitions, while Leicester’s extraordinary 2015-16 triumph remains one of the greatest sporting stories ever despite a relatively modest points total because their achievement transcended raw statistics, and Arsenal deserve to be viewed through a similar lens.

This season’s Premier League has also been one of the most competitive and unpredictable campaigns in years, as Manchester City dropped unexpected points throughout the run-in, Liverpool struggled for consistency despite winning the title last season and spending more than £450 million on transfers, while mid-table teams regularly disrupted the traditional hierarchy, with Bournemouth’s draw against City, the result that mathematically handed Arsenal the title — perfectly capturing the division’s volatility.

Lower points totals do not automatically indicate weaker champions because they can simply reflect a stronger and more balanced league.

Defensively, Arsenal resemble elite champions

© Iconsport / PA Images

Where the “worst champions” narrative becomes especially difficult to sustain is defensively, with Arteta’s side conceding only 26 goals after 37 matches, a figure that compares favourably to Mourinho’s Chelsea conceding 15 in 2004-05, Manchester United conceding 22 in 2007-08, Liverpool conceding 33 in 2019-20, Manchester City conceding 34 during their 100-point season and Leicester conceding 36 in 2015-16.

Arsenal’s defensive numbers place them significantly closer to historically elite champions than to any genuinely weak title-winning side, with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes establishing themselves as arguably the league’s most dominant centre-back partnership, while David Raya provided the calm and reliability Arsenal had previously lacked during pressure moments in title races.

This Arsenal side may not have overwhelmed opponents through attacking chaos, but they controlled matches with remarkable consistency and emotional discipline, which is ultimately what champions do.

The criticism is really about aesthetics

© Iconsport / ALTERPHOTOS/Tomas Garrido

Much of the backlash toward Arsenal appears rooted less in results and more in aesthetics, as Arteta’s side are not romantic champions in the mould of Wenger’s free-flowing Arsenal teams or Guardiola’s relentless attacking City side, instead operating with a structured, calculated and ruthlessly efficient approach.

They dominate territory, slow matches down, defend leads, score from set pieces, embrace physicality and win ugly when necessary, qualities that have made them less enjoyable for some neutrals.

Former players and pundits repeatedly criticised Arsenal’s reliance on set pieces throughout the campaign, with some arguing Nicolas Jover’s influence made the team overly functional and others suggesting their lower-scoring victories reflected caution rather than authority.

However, Premier League history is filled with successful sides criticised for pragmatism during their peak years, as Mourinho’s early Chelsea teams were labelled defensive, Antonio Conte’s Chelsea suffocated opponents through structure and physical dominance, and even Ferguson’s later Manchester United title winners frequently relied more on resilience, mentality and experience than brilliance.

History rarely remembers whether champions were aesthetically pleasing but instead remembers whether they won.

Arsenal’s mentality changed everything

© Iconsport / PA Images

Perhaps the strongest argument in Arsenal’s favour is psychological rather than statistical, because this was not a miracle season or a fortunate collapse from rivals, but the completion of a long-term rebuild after Arsenal finished second in each of the previous three campaigns before finally taking the final step in 2025-26.

Arteta has transformed the club culturally as much as tactically by making Arsenal tougher, calmer and emotionally stronger.

That mentality was perfectly captured after Arsenal’s crucial 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in April, when television cameras caught Declan Rice repeatedly telling teammates “It’s not over” despite widespread belief that Guardiola’s side had seized control of the title race, a moment that previous Arsenal teams may have emotionally collapsed under but this side instead used as motivation before responding with the resilience that ultimately defined their season through gritty victories against Newcastle, Fulham, West Ham and Burnley during the closing weeks.

Champions are not always the most entertaining side because sometimes they are simply the most emotionally durable.

So where do Arsenal rank?

While Arsenal are not among the greatest Premier League champions ever - not Guardiola’s centurions, Klopp’s near-perfect Liverpool side, Wenger’s Invincibles or Mourinho’s record-breaking Chelsea, they are also nowhere near the worst, with several previous champions producing weaker defensive records, lower points totals or benefiting from less competitive league environments.

The fairest description of Arteta’s side is probably that they are worthy rather than legendary champions, and after 22 years without a league title, Arsenal did not need to become immortal, they only needed to prove they were the best team in England, which over the course of a relentless and emotionally exhausting season they unquestionably did.

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