Exclusive: Arsenal FA Cup winner explains how Mikel Arteta brought Gunners' "DNA" back

Arsenal's passion for defending and willingness to sacrifice for the good of the team means that the Gunners have now got their "DNA" back, Philippe Senderos has exclusively told Sports Mole.

Mikel Arteta's men enjoyed a day of celebration on Saturday after a historic campaign built on a rearguard brick wall, which conceded just 27 goals en route to the Premier League title.

Arsenal's staunch defence earned David Raya a third straight Golden Glove, and the Spaniard also kept a tournament-high nine clean sheets in the Champions League, one short of the all-time single-season record.

Arteta's defence failed to hold out in the Champions League final, though, as holders Paris Saint-Germain retained their title on penalties, but the Gunners restricted PSG to 0.3 Expected Goals before Ousmane Dembele's equalising spot kick.

Ex-Arsenal defender Senderos played an integral role in the Arsenal team that reached the 2005-06 Champions League final while keeping 10 clean sheets, and the Swiss can see similarities between Arsene Wenger and Arteta's backlines.

Philippe Senderos: 'Arsenal have got their DNA back'

"In the Arsenal team now, we can really see the DNA of Arsenal," Senderos said. "We can see that they all want to sacrifice for the team, work hard and really defend, and that partnership at the back is one of the best we've had in many, many years.

"I'm really pleased about overall how Arsenal are doing. And there are similarities I would say in the willingness to defend, the willingness to put your body on the line, I think that's similar to what we had at the time.”

Senderos made seven consecutive starts for Arsenal in the 2005-06 Champions League, including both legs of the last-16 victory over Real Madrid, during which time the Gunners did not concede a single goal.

The 41-year-old was then an unused substitute in Arsenal's 2-1 final defeat to Barcelona, and he left the club in 2010 after scoring four , goals in 117 appearances in all tournaments, winning the FA Cup and the Community Shield.

Why Arsenal defensive criticism is over the top

The 2025-26 Champions League final was billed as the quintessential attack vs. defence battle, given PSG's unmatched goalscoring exploits and the Gunners' unrivalled rearguard statistics.

Les Parisiens had scored a tournament-high 44 before the final, but their potent attack was nullified by Arsenal's steadfast backline for 70 minutes at the Puskas Arena, at the expense of the neutrals' entertainment.

Even Sir Alex Ferguson aimed a dig at Arsenal, claiming in a text message to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi that the champions were "the team that played football", although suggestions that he referred to Arsenal as "boring" are wide of the mark.

However, Arteta is aware that Arsenal's strengths lie with their world-class defence rather than their forward line, as the Gunners scored 15 fewer Champions League goals than PSG in 2025-26.

Arteta's job is not to make Arsenal's games entertaining for armchair fans; his job is to win the biggest prizes, and one of those tick boxes has now been checked.

Philippe Senderos was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of Champions League betting site BetWright.