According to The Athletic, despite winning the Premier League title last season, Arsenal's players have not lost their hunger in pursuit of another trophy, and they will be the team everyone wants to beat in the new season.

The report raises the question: can anyone stop Arsenal in the Premier League?

It may be too early to answer that question. The new season has just begun, with 380 Premier League matches kicking off this week under the lights at the Emirates and concluding in May next year. There is still much football to be played this season.

It is also worth remembering that in the past 34 years, only three managers have led their teams to back-to-back Premier League titles: Sir Alex Ferguson with Manchester United, José Mourinho with Chelsea, and Pep Guardiola with Manchester City.

Typically, rivals are re-energized with motivation to overcome last season's disappointments. For the defending champions, the biggest challenge is not just that everyone wants to beat them—it is whether the players and even the manager will show the same commitment this season as they did last season. In other words, has the hunger remained?

Arsenal's emphatic 3-0 victory over Manchester City in the FA Community Shield last Sunday provided some answers, not just through their goals and dominant scoreline.

The work rate and body language of Arsenal's players without the ball, along with their intensity in every duel, also told the story. Though the tournament remains contentious among many fans: does winning it really constitute a trophy?

After the match, when a reporter mentioned that Gabriel, fellow international defender, new Arsenal signing Bruno Guimarães, and Ben White appeared to be enjoying their tackles and blocks, Arteta smiled.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said: "When you put your heart and soul into it, that is the result."

In the FA Community Shield, the message was clear: Arsenal fans may still be savoring their return to the championship after 22 years, but Arteta and his players remain hungry and ambitious, determined to hold onto the trophy the club has waited so long to reclaim.

Arteta explained: "Because you want to experience it again. When you have that desire, I want to experience this moment again, and I want to experience all those moments even more intensely than last time. We know what it takes to do that, and we know how difficult the challenge is. We have never achieved back-to-back titles in this club's Premier League era. So we know it requires something special, and we are ready."

But are the other Premier League clubs ready? With so much change this summer, can a real contender emerge from the usual title challengers? Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea have all changed managers, while Erik ten Hag enters his first full season as Manchester United manager.

In stark contrast to Arsenal, Arteta is now the longest-serving manager across all four divisions of English professional football.

Against Manchester City, Arsenal played like a well-oiled machine: every player with a clearly defined role and established movement patterns already in place—Kalhoglu overlapped down the left, Ben White covered the right; at one point these two fullbacks nearly combined to create a goal. The team maintains long-term competitiveness through a stable winning formula. As for whether they scored against Manchester City from a set piece, the answer is no.

It is true that the FA Community Shield does not always predict the season's outcome—before Sunday's match, only 8 of 34 FA Community Shield winners had gone on to win the Premier League title. This year, in the opening match of the season, many players were making their first club appearances of the summer, as they were competing at the Copa América. Haaland was certainly one of them, and barring injury, it is unlikely he will be substituted off after 53 minutes this season.

Similarly, on the pitch in Cardiff, one cannot ignore the more serious practical issues at Manchester City, particularly the glaring midfield imbalance when Bernard Silva and Rodri—their most in-form players—were absent. To call it a "different style" would be an understatement; more frankly, the team's overall strength was not only significantly diminished, but the midfield lost its key leadership and orchestration abilities.

If Manchester City allows Rodri to leave this summer without targeted reinforcements, the team's future competitive prospects are almost unimaginable. Whether it is Enzo Fernández from Chelsea or other suitable candidates, the club must secure reliable replacements.

By contrast, Arsenal has already bolstered this crucial position by signing Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle for £75 million as a priority. Just days ago, Mikel Merino publicly commented that Arsenal now has a world-class midfield. When Arteta heard this assessment, he smiled knowingly—a gesture that speaks volumes about the club's and coaching staff's recognition of the midfield improvement.

Guimarães already looked quite comfortable in an Arsenal shirt, demonstrating both intelligence and physicality against Manchester City. However, two players alongside him were instrumental in the goals: Lewis-Skelly provided a brilliant disguised pass just 24 seconds into the match, setting up the first goal; the outstanding Bukayo Saka was involved in the second goal and elegantly finished the third.

Saka used a brilliant piece of skill to deceive Donnarumma, leaving Manchester City's goalkeeper on the ground before calmly slotting into an empty net, prompting Arsenal fans to chant: "Can we play you every week?"

Minutes later they sang: "Are you Tottenham in disguise?"

It was a microcosm of Arsenal's day. Fans chanted "Olé" at every pass through the 60th minute and even mocked the new Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca's short-term prospects. What delighted them even more was Christos Tziolis, signed from Club Brugge for £34 million, providing two assists on his official debut. Aside from playing as an improvised left winger, it is difficult to imagine Arsenal finding a more perfect replacement for Leandro Trossard than Tziolis.

Meanwhile, David Raya continued to remind everyone with both his feet and hands why he is one of the Premier League's best goalkeepers. He could deliver a 40-yard pass to Tziolis with his feet, collected crosses with ease, and made a brilliant late save, denying Sémédo.

As the game gradually slipped away, Arteta made significant substitutions, once again demonstrating the depth of Arsenal's squad.

Saka, Declan Rice, Mikel Merino, Kai Havertz, Victor Wanyama, and Nwaneri came on as substitutes. Merino, a World Cup winner, did not take the field; talented prospect Ayden Heaven also remained on the bench. As for Martinelli, Nwaneri, and Gabriel Jesus, they were not in the squad.

Nevertheless, Arsenal still have work to do in this transfer window. In defence, Moisés Caicedo and Gabriel formed a good partnership, but Arteta hopes to bring in a more experienced centre-back to replace the injured William Saliba; in attack, they have yet to sign a top striker, and if Arsenal wants to take another step forward in the Champions League, this is almost certainly the position that needs to be filled.

But at the Premier League level, Arsenal will once again be the team everyone wants to beat, and that is a feeling hard to overcome.

Переведено ИИ.

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