Arsenal labelled the ‘worst’ and ‘greatest’ PL champions ever as ‘real challenge’ for Arteta next

Even Leicester City’s champions were better than this Arsenal side, with head coach Mikel Arteta told his ‘real challenge’ is next.

There’s also more reaction to Stewie Griffin breaking his silence, plus thoughts on Southampton’s expulsion and Liverpool facing a Manchester United repeat.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com…

Arsenal are the ‘worst’ Premier League champions of all time…

F*ck it, I’ll say it. This Arsenal are the worst Premier League Champions we’ve ever had. Not one of their players would even be mentioned in a conversation of the best PL players of all time.

Even Leicester had Kante, who would get an honorable mention. They’re boring to watch, highly unlikeable with one of the weirdest managers you’ll ever see.

As a club they’re the closest thing to an AI-created club you’ll ever see. There’s something about their performative nonsense that screams AI slop but in the real world. If you want an indictment to the current state of world football and the fact that there are so few memorable players currently plying their trade, it is that this iteration of Arsenal might be crowned champions of England and Europe in 2026.

But congratulations and all of that.
Dave, Dublin

READ: Ranking remaining Premier League trophy droughts by ridiculousness after Arsenal and Villa glory

Or are Arsenal the ‘greatest’ team to ever win the Premier League?

The Mailbox on November 9th was titled: “Would Arsenal be the ‘biggest bottlers’ in PL history if they fail to win the title from here?”

This was due to an email from ‘Minty LFC’ that said: “so if they did fail to (win) is it fair to finally declare this Arsenal side the biggest bottlers in the history of the league? Bottled it 2 seasons ago to City, bottled even being a contender last season. Surely not 3 times in a row…?”

Well, surely indeed, Minty. Thanks for the motivation. And I’d like to provide a counter point to your “biggest bottlers in history” theory.

After last season’s run away champions invested hugely in “stellar talents” such a Wirtz and Isak to bolster their title-winning squad.. and with a team such as Manchester C115y that can magically pay whatever wages and transfer fees they like with the ‘world’s best manager’ at the helm – I posit that, after overcoming such odds, Arsenal are actually in fact *the greatest* team to ever win the Premier League!

Thanks to Minty and all similar fans who created the “bottle” bantz.. you gave us Arsenal fans enough motivation to help push the players and the club over the finish line and lift the trophy. Thank you, we love you all, keep the bantz coming and help us win a treble next year!!
H.

Arsenal winning the Premier League COULD be a win for football

I have no great love for this iteration of Arsenal. I can appreciate that they have built something sustainable and kept faith in the process. But they are not a fun team to watch. It’s frustrating because I think they have the squad to be a very good AND very entertaining team.

The second place finishes have been a problem. Mikel Arteta knew this was his last chance for himself and the process. So he adopted a dour but effective means of winning games and the league. Can’t argue with it’s effectiveness given they have the league and have made the Champions League final. I have a grudging respect for it. He identified a path to glory and stuck to it. They have been the best team this year and are deserving champions.

I am hoping this style of play was a means to an end, winning the league. Now that particular monkey is off their back, the next challenge will be to win the league with some open, attacking, occasionally swashbuckling and exciting football. They have all the tools to do this;
A ball playing keeper who also has ridiculous saves in his locker
Rolls Royce Centre halves
Full backs who can attack and defend.
A balance in midfield of metronomic, all-action box to box, and deft between the lines players
Wingers who can beat their man (on the right. Upgrade needed on the left)
A mix of forward options between the false 9 or a target man (more investment needed here too
The parts are mostly there. I think Gyokeres has had a solid first season. He may offer more in a system designed to score from open play. Saka can get back to his best. Rice could be fully unleashed. If someone could whisper to Arteta that the real challenge is now to win playing attractive football, next season could be a belter. 3-4 teams with contrasting styles in contention.

Or he’ll double down on the boring shite because we are not allowed to have nice things. Probably that tbh.
Kevin (pragmatic optimist)

READ MORE: Arsenal dominate ranking of ways to win title from worst to best – but 2026 effort is 30th

Arsenal austerity?

Congratulations to Arsenal but can we please not start heralding them as some sort of rags to riches story of defeating the nation state-clubs?

Since Arteta has come on they’ve spent similar amounts to City and United (and Spurs, hilariously). Their net spend bill is worse than anyone’s spare United – where’s the sustainability there?

The sustainability comes from being owned by hypercapitalist Kroenke and friends – the man himself being worth $22 billion on his own.

Congratulations, but they are not a story of some underdog fighting the financial tides to come out on top.
Theo, Liverpool

Boo for football

So Arsenal won it. The schadenfreude bottle is back in the cupboard. I’m sure many Arsenal fans are very happy with it and, although we’ll be going on about it, that asterisk to the win will fall away. We’ll forget about how THAT Arsenal defence managed to get through a whole season without one penalty or one red card given to them all season. We’ll forget about all the diving, grappling, gamesmanship etc just like the FA have forgotten about Citeh’s 115 charges.

Next season the Premier League has to address the refereeing and obvious financial irregularities from some teams in the league or else I can see people just moving away from it. Football isn’t about the game anymore. It’s not about the fans anymore; the email from old mate about his 30 year old season ticket that was worth nothing in the end really pointed out a big issue in football as a whole.

Just like everything else, football has shown itself susceptible to capitalism’s corrosive influence. It’s become co-opted and corrupted into a mechanism for corporate profits. The traditional day out for father and son is gone. The club as manifestation of a community’s interest in their local team is gone. The game has been stretched so thin in order to be draped over the grand financial mechanism that is the “Premier League” that it has become transparently broken. We all saw it this season. As much as F365 can complain that talk about VAR bores them but if the majority of people are complaining about it then the zeitgeist is one of dissatisfaction and mistrust.

Next season will be my last season watching the Prem if we can expect the same display of incompetence and overlooked financial corruption. If there is no change I’ll be looking at another team to support in a league that isn’t such a dog show. So I’m up for suggestions from my fellow mailboxers for a great team that cares about their community and where watching football is about the football. Thanks in advance

Truly embracing the name today
Disgruntled, RSA

A non-Arsenal fan who is ‘glad they won it’

Congratulations to Arsenal. I’m glad they won it and not City. Yes, their football has been largely awful to watch, built around intense off the ball running, constant diving and set-piece optimisation; yes, their fans are an unholy and irritating brew of roadmen and graphic designers; yes, their manager knowingly shielded a player accused of multiple serious sexual offences…..Yes, they….I forgot what my point was.

Oh yes, they’re haven’t got 115 charges hanging over them. So, well done.

In all seriousness, the league doesn’t lie, you’re top at the end of the season, you deserve it.

Lastly, a lot of the mailbox seem keen for Stewie Griffin to have his say. I’ve got a better idea – now Arteta has taken them to the title, how about we all move on from his infantile bollocks, and he’s never published again?
Ben

READ MORE: The six Premier League tables to show how Arsenal proved Neville wrong and won the title

Let’s embrace the hatred

Now that Arsenal have gloriously won the league I think it’s the right time to address the stick they received over this season, from some of the pundits/media and how Gooners have reacted to it. Schmeichel, Pardew, Obi Mikel, Agbonlahor, Neville, Carragher, Scholes, Stelling, Hart and Given all threw serious shade at the mighty Gunners and to be honest, I’m 100% here for it.

I have written in before regarding my hatred for all other clubs. No soft spots, second teams, etc and I expected the narrative they have pedalled over the season, as its exactly the same as the narrative I’ve been pedalling for other teams over the years.

Should City have an asterisk after everything they’ve ever won? Of course they should, with their 115 cheating ways. Should Chelsea? Yes they’ve literally been proven to be financial cheats, Should Liverpool? Yes COVID and the league was crap when Slot won it? Man U and SAF? Absolutely – they bought their success (and the Refs). Spurs? Micky Mouse cup mate.

I have always thought that the majority of the names I’ve mentioned above were massive bell-ends anyway (partly because they play for/support other clubs but mostly because they are massive bell-ends) so let’s all embrace the hatred and how glorious it is to rub the detractors (who are whoring themselves out for a few clicks) noses in it, when your team does eventually win! Up the Arsenal and f**k absolutely everyone else!
McG (Belfast) – Stewie’s mail was a huge a let-down BTW

Catch up on Stewie’s response to Arsenal winning the Premier League title here…

Speaking of Stewie, check the facts, please…

Half of Stewie’s facts aren’t fact…

£1.7billion over 7 years is 240 million a year.

To rebuild a squad aged go from no Euro football aged 8 place to Premier league title and Champs league finalist represents pretty good investment.

I mean Chelsea have Spent £1.7 billion in the last 4 seasons.

Man city have spent £250million+ every season in the same period.

Liverpool’s £450 million last summer alone.

Manu have spent less but they have been out of v contention fair the league and not doing well in Europe for a while but this summer they will spend was fortune.

The reality is that to compete with City and Chelsea etc you need to have similar levels of resourcing.

But because it’s Arsenal it’s different apparently.

And poor refereeing is our fault too…sure.

If you’re going to try and compare the past with the present and not acknowledge that the works steering has changed it is all going to make you look like a plank.

Inflation. The ever growing piles of TV money making everyone’s budget bigger. Billionaire owners. Nation state owners. ‘Special accounting’ practices, Etc.

But yeah Stewie, like a crap joke on a sitcom that had been wheeled out for 20 years and someone still thinks it’s entertaining. But now with spurious Maga references. Oh, how current you are.
JT

What amazing, joyous mental scenes across North London. The wait has been long but the will has never waned. There was a process, it has produced results – easy to go into the where’s and wherefores of this and talk to money, PGMOL, conspiracy, anything you want quite frankly. Fans love banter and winning and long may that continue, there’ll always be naysayers and that’s fine. You can pick holes in any title win if you want but you can’t stop that name being engraved on the trophy.

We were told we’d never win by Stewie, but now he wants to moan at how we won. Just eat your hat – clearly not a man of your word. It’s clear we didn’t romp across the line , but cross the line we did. With Leicester as the outlier, it’s also clear that money talks when you look at previous winners, so I’m not sure what the point is here. Yes, at times the football wasn’t pretty but the prettiest teams don’t always win the league. Let the haters hate, that’s fine, but what a team, what a performance, what a manager.

Enjoy the scenes x
Nick, London

Southampton expulsion reaction

Boro being allowed play Hull in the final is akin to Ireland being allowed to go to the World Cup after the Henry handball.

They lost the match.

Can’t believe this has been handled so badly that Boro are being allowed get away with this.
Paul

Liverpool face Erik ten Hag repeat

I’m sorry but has anybody noticed Liverpool’s situation with Slot is very similar to that of Man UTD with Ten Hag? You know when they should have sacked a bald dutch coach after FA Cup glory and they didn’t. It was very obvious then for UTD and it is very obvious now for Liverpool. Not that, as a UTD fan, I mind Liverpool keeping Slot on the basis of (probably) the whole “this means more” discourse. Liverpool has been awful this season and I absolutely love to rub salt in their wounds. Can’t wait to see how Slot spiral into full Ten Hag will turn out for them next season.
Karen Asad