Arsenal have done it. Finally. After 22 years, they are champions of England once again. Manchester City’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Tuesday night means Arsenal hold an unassailable lead at the top of the Premier League with one game remaining. It’s their 14th top-flight crown overall, their fourth Premier League title, and their first since the Invincibles campaign of 2003-04.

The defining number for that team was zero. Zero defeats across an entire league season. But what numbers best define this Arsenal side? Here are 10 that tell the story of their title-winning campaign.

A defining characteristic of Arsenal under Mikel Arteta has been their dominance from set pieces. It has always been a focus of their play, but it has been particularly pronounced this campaign. They have scored 28 of their 68 league goals from dead-ball situations, three more than any other side.

They have been most dangerous from corners, scoring 18 goals from them in 2025-26, which is a new Premier League record. It says a lot about the direction of the Premier League that the record – overtaking the 16 scored by Oldham Athletic in 1992-93 – has been broken twice this season. First by Arsenal, who have the outright record, and then by Tottenham, who have scored 17 goals from corners this season.

Arsenal’s effectiveness from corners has, at times, been used as a stick with which to beat them. Critics say their reliance on set pieces makes their football predictable and overly functional. There may be some truth to that perception, but elite sides have long understood the value of marginal gains. Arsenal have simply become better than everyone else at exploiting them.

With his clean sheet against Burnley on Monday night, David Raya moved on to 19 shutouts for the season. That drew him level with the most ever recorded by an Arsenal goalkeeper in a Premier League campaign, matching David Seaman’s totals from 1993-94 and 1998-99. If he manages another one on the final day against Crystal Palace, Raya will set the outright record for the club.

The Spaniard was awarded the Golden Glove award for a third consecutive season and is only the fourth goalkeeper to win the award in three successive seasons, after Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Joe Hart (Manchester City) and Ederson (Manchester City). Raya is now one Golden Glove away from equalling the all-time record of four, jointly held by Petr Cech and Hart.

Arsenal’s title triumph has been built on their defensive strength. They have conceded just 26 league goals this season, at least six fewer than any other side, and the second-fewest they have conceded in a Premier League campaign behind 1998-99 (17).

That rock-solid rearguard has come to the fore in the run-in. Since their 2-1 defeat at Manchester City a month ago, they have won four games in a row without conceding a goal.

The underlying numbers are just as impressive. Arsenal have allowed chances worth only 0.74 expected goals per game this season. As far back as Opta have advanced expected goals data (2012-13), that is the fourth-best figure ever recorded in a Premier League campaign. Arsenal have conceded just 8.2 shots per game and 2.4 shots on target per game, the best figures across Europe’s top five leagues this season.

At the heart of Arsenal’s defensive excellence has been their centre-back pairing of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães. They have started together in 26 league games this season, with Arsenal winning 17 of them. That total is joint-highest in the division alongside Liverpool duo Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk, despite the latter pair starting together a lot more frequently (35 matches).

Among centre-back pairings to start together more than five times this season, Saliba and Gabriel have comfortably the best clean sheet rate. Arsenal have kept 15 clean sheets in their 26 starts together, averaging one every 1.7 games.

For much of Arteta’s tenure, Arsenal did not really have a problem competing with the teams at the top of the table. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, the first of Arsenal’s three consecutive second-placed finishes, they have taken more points (76) against fellow “big-six” rivals than anyone else. They have lost just six of 40 such games.

The teams they should have beaten have been the real problem. In 2023-24, when they last went toe-to-toe with Manchester City in a title race, there were back-to-back defeats against West Ham and Fulham over Christmas that derailed their chances. The season prior, there was a limp defeat away to Everton in February, and then two crazy draws in consecutive games against West Ham (2-2) and Southampton (3-3) in April.

This season, however, Arsenal have been ruthless against weaker opposition (at least in league table terms). They’ve won 17 of their 19 matches against teams currently in the bottom half of the table, taking 53 points and conceding just six goals in those games. They’ve taken an average of 2.8 points per game against bottom-half sides this season, which is by far the best rate of any team, and comfortably exceeds Manchester City’s 2.3, who come next.

It was quite fitting that a tense but resolute 1-0 win over relegated Burnley ultimately sealed the title.

Arsenal have been no strangers to leading across the last four seasons. The problem has been remaining there when the music stops. Come the end of the season on Sunday, they will have led the league for 238 days this season, 204 more days than Liverpool and a huge 229 more days than City. This time they have made it count.

That hasn’t always been the case. In 2022-23, Arsenal spent 232 days top of the league, 206 more than eventual winners Manchester City (42), but could not get over the line. That is still the record for the most days spent top by a side who’ve failed to go on to win the title.

In fact, since the start of 2022-23, Arsenal will have spent 562 days top of the Premier League at the end of this season, 207 more than any other club. Until now, they had little reward to show for it.

As these numbers lay bare, Arsenal’s title has been built on defensive dominance rather than free-flowing expansive attacking football.

Still, summer signing Viktor Gyökeres has enjoyed a productive debut season, scoring 21 goals in all competitions, and 14 in the Premier League. He is the first player to score 20-plus goals in all competitions in his first Arsenal season since Alexis Sánchez (25 in 2014-15). Before that, only Thierry Henry had achieved it in the Premier League era (26 in 1999-2000).

Yet, 14 league goals is an unusually modest tally for the top scorer of title winners. Only two Premier League champions have had a top goalscorer finish with fewer goals: Frank Lampard scored 13 for Chelsea in 2004-05, and İlkay Gündoğan scored 13 for Manchester City in 2020-21. With one game to go, Gyökeres finds himself level with Eric Cantona, who scored 14 in Manchester United’s 1995-96 title-winning campaign.

It felt fitting that Arsenal’s final game before the title was mathematically secured ended in a 1-0 victory. They have won by that scoreline eight times in the league this season, their highest total since 1998-99, when they recorded nine such wins.

Since their defeat to Manchester City a month ago, Arsenal have won four straight games without conceding a goal. Three of those wins have come by a 1-0 scoreline. Their defensive resilience has defined the season, but it has been especially crucial during the run-in.

Physicality has always been central to Arteta’s vision for Arsenal. The club’s recruitment under him has consistently prioritised height, athleticism and physicality alongside technical quality. However, that is reflected not only in Arsenal’s set-piece dominance, but also in their running metrics.

Remarkably, Arsenal have covered more distance than their opponents in 35 of their 37 league games this season, more than any other side in the division. Leeds United rank second, having done so 32 times.

Usually, high running numbers are associated with teams that spend long periods without possession. That’s not quite the case here, though, as Arsenal average 56.1% possession, the fourth-highest figure in the Premier League. When the going has got tough, they’ve been able to ride the athleticism and work rate of figures like Declan Rice to get them over the line in tight matches.

Finally, a word for the man who made all of this possible. Arteta’s transformation of Arsenal has been gradual, demanding and, ultimately, hugely impressive. Comparing the team he inherited to the side that beat Burnley highlights just how extensive his rebuild has been.

At 44 years and 54 days old, Arteta becomes the second-youngest manager to win the Premier League. Only José Mourinho was younger when he guided Chelsea to the title in both 2004-05 (42 years and 94 days old) and again in 2005-06 (43 years and 94 days old).

With Pep Guardiola leaving Manchester City at the end of the season, Arteta will become the longest-serving manager currently in the Premier League. Having already spent more than six years at Arsenal, it is easy to forget just how young he still is. That could be worrying for rivals – how many more campaigns does the Spaniard have in him?

This is an article by Opta Analyst