Arsenal finally have a recognised No.9 in Viktor Gyökeres. Will it be enough to get Mikel Arteta over the line this season? For now, at least, the bookies don’t think so.
With the new Premier League campaign underway, Liverpool are the official favourites. It was expected, with the club looking inspired under new manager Arne Slot. They’re fresh off winning the league and have splashed over £250m on players this summer, so the Gunners have their work cut out for them.
There’s also the prospect of a Man City revival. Pep Guardiola is furious after his side’s bizarre collapse last season and is out to prove that City are still the top dog in the Premier League. And if Pep does get City firing again this season, we’ll be looking at an exciting 3-way title race.
Arsenal Given 5/2 Odds to Win Premier League, While Liverpool Remain Favourites
- Arsenal beat Man Utd 0-1 away on the opening day, with the Gunners looking solid at the back
- Liverpool also sealed a late 4-2 win over Bournemouth
- Bookie odds are staying the same for now
bet365 currently have Arsenal down with 5/2 odds to win the Premier League, as do 888sport, Ladbrokes, and most of the other bookies. The free to use value betting software can potentially get you even better odds if you want to bet on Arsenal to win the league. This comes following the opening games of the 2025/26 season, which saw Arsenal, Liverpool, and Man City all win convincingly.
Liverpool are the outright favourites with 7/4 odds. In the bookies’ eyes, the Reds are going to win back-to-back league titles. And you can’t blame them for making Arne Slot’s men the favourites, especially now they’ve splashed the cash this summer and were able to grab Florian Wirtz for £116 million.
The issue for Arteta is that Arsenal have spent over £650million since he joined the club back in 2019 and have yet somehow only been able to win an FA Cup (which he won that very first season with Unai Emery’s squad). It’s now 5 trophyless seasons on the bounce for the Spaniard, so the bookies aren’t confident enough to put Arsenal as title favourites, even though the club is excellent on paper.
What’s obvious is that the 25/26 season is make or break for Arteta. He has to win a trophy this season, ideally the Premier League. If not, the Gunners fanbase will be split in half again, just like they were during Arsène Wenger’s final days at the club.
Gunners Odds-On to Finish Inside the Top 4
Even though Arsenal aren’t title favourites, they’re once again odds-on to finish inside the top 4. Arteta might not have demonstrated league winning credentials just yet, but he’s an excellent manager when it comes to qualifying for the Champions League, something that he’s successfully done for three straight seasons now. This is why Arsenal have 1/5 odds with most bookies to finish inside the top 4 by the end of the 25/26 season, so you’re not going to get much money back unless you make a big bet on this market.
The Gunners will, of course, face some stiff competition. As we already mentioned, Liverpool and City are chomping at the bit to win the league, so they’re also certainties to land a top 4 spot. Then there are teams like Villa, Newcastle, Chelsea, and arguably even Manchester United and Spurs, who will all be pushing hard to qualify for the UCL. But when you consider how strong Arsenal are at the moment, as well as their recent summer signings of Viktor Gyökeres and Martin Zubimendi, the Gunners don’t have too much to worry about.
A Potential Champions League Run for Mikel Arteta?
Outside of domestic affairs, there’s nothing to say that Mikel Arteta can’t take Arsenal on an inspired Champions League run this season. In the previous campaign, he dragged the Gunners all the way to the UCL semi-finals after beating Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate, so we know there’s some serious potential there for Arsenal to do THE business in Europe. Getting all the way to the final is a different story, but the club’s current Champions League odds of 7/1 with bet365 are relatively good in our estimation.
Gunners “are not going to win the league with Ødegaard as captain,” says Club Legend, Tony Adams
Following the start of the new season, a lot of the talk is on whether Arsenal have enough to get over the Premier League finish line this time. It’s a now age old tradition to ask former Arsenal players and legends what they think about it all, and legendary former captain Tony Adams was brutally honest:
I’m seeing Declan Rice as a captain, but I am saying to Arteta, come on, step up now. It’s your time to be a winning manager. You are not going to win the league with Ødegaard as captain. I’m sorry.
Whether Ødegaard will be axed as captain remains to be seen. There’s no denying that Declan Rice is a more than capable figure to lead Arsenal forward, and would arguably be the much better choice as captain, but Arteta is unlikely to change things now that the new season has started and Arsenal have won their opening game against rivals Man Utd. If a change to the captaincy was going to be made, it would have already happened in pre-season.
Final Prediction: Arsenal to Miss Out on the Title Again?
This looks set to be one of the most entertaining Premier League campaigns for years. Liverpool are fresh off winning the league last season and have just spent big in the summer, Man City appear as though they’re on the comeback trail, and Arsenal have all the groundwork set to finally push for the title. It’s going to be an epic clash, and don’t be surprised if a 3-way title race quickly starts to emerge in the build up to Christmas.
As for where Arsenal will actually finish is where it gets tricky. An early prediction for now is the Gunners will easily finish inside the top four, likely either 2nd or 3rd, but once again miss out on the title. They could, however, cause a shock if Liverpool can’t capitalize off last season’s momentum and Man City fail to get back into gear.
There’s definitely potential for this to be the season where Arteta ends the Gunners’ 5-year trophy drought. They’ll need to hit the ground running, though, and hope that new striker Viktor Gyökeres brings his outstanding goalscoring form from Sporting CP with him.