As the Premier League season resumes, defending champions Arsenal find themselves in an unusually strong position, with manager Mikel Arteta now the longest-serving boss in the division and most title-chasing rivals contending with new or unsettled managers. This shift matters because it removes much of the continuity and experience that made clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool formidable, leaving Arsenal's stability as a rare advantage heading into the campaign. Arteta is keen to frame the season not as a defence of the title but as a fresh pursuit of another one, and of building a lasting dynasty at the club.

Of the "Big Six" clubs, City, Liverpool and Chelsea have appointed new managers, while Tottenham and Manchester United have relatively new appointments too, part of a summer in which nine Premier League clubs changed their manager. Only Aston Villa's Unai Emery, in the role for three years and nine months, offers comparable stability among genuine title contenders, with Arteta himself having taken charge at Arsenal in December 2019. Pep Guardiola's departure from City is seen as the most significant shift in the division's dynamics, while Arsenal's nerve-shredding run-in last season—overturning City's advantage before edging past Burnley 1-0—still looms large in Arteta's thinking as his side prepare to open the new campaign at home to Coventry.