Arsenal’s whole season has felt like a blur — but especially since December’s 1-0 win away to Everton.
Mikel Arteta’s team played 18 matches in nine weeks up until the 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday.
This week has been their first ‘free’ week in 2026, leaving time for the manager to prepare for Chelsea’s arrival at the Emirates on Sunday.
“Sequences of matches, I always look at the type of opponent we’re going to play; what kind of formation, what kind of managers, can we have some consistency over a few weeks?” Arteta said last season.
“We’re going to put things in place to be more efficient, to simplify the messages.”
The breakdown of a season is easier at the start, with international windows creating natural blocks of matches before a packed schedule from November to the end of March.
But within Arsenal’s season, there have been eight clear “sequences” — how has Arteta managed them?
Block One (three matches): Setting the tone, but injury issues return
The opening three league fixtures are a chance to set the tone. Arsenal beat Manchester United and Leeds United but lost at Liverpool, and their injury issues started.
Arteta only made two changes to his first three line-ups last season, and both were tactical. Jurrien Timber’s defensive solidity was preferred to Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back and Leandro Trossard earned a start at home to Brighton & Hove Albion after scoring twice against Aston Villa.
Four changes were made to the line-up in the opening three matches this year.
Leandro Trossard celebrates after scoring against Villa (Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Ben White, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka started on the opening day at Old Trafford, but were all injured by full time against Leeds. Kai Havertz suffered a knee injury too, while William Saliba was forced off after four minutes at Anfield with a twisted ankle.
Odegaard returned as a substitute in the 1-0 defeat at Anfield, but it did not prevent the growing narrative that Arsenal, with a midfield of Mikel Merino, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi, were too negative in that match.
Block Two (seven matches): Arteta tries out rotation
The period between the first two international breaks provides the first run of games to build momentum and this was the first glimpse at Arteta looking ahead in the schedule.
Their first game back, Nottingham Forest at home, was followed by a Champions League opener away to Athletic Club and then Manchester City at home. With tougher fixtures in the back-end of the week, Arteta rested Rice against Forest to keep him fresh.
He tried to do the same with Zubimendi at the end of this block of seven games, benching the Spain international against West Ham United on October 4. But with Odegaard suffering his third injury of the season (knee), Zubimendi came on to help create both goals in a 2-0 Arsenal win.
Martin Zubimendi had to come on against West Ham, though Mikel Arteta had hoped to rest him (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Odegaard’s injuries (two shoulder and one knee) in this period prompted two positional/selection changes that benefited Arsenal. Eberechi Eze moved from the left to a more central position and Trossard took his place on the wing.
Eze’s most consistent performances since signing from Crystal Palace came in this run, while Trossard, starting ahead of the chaotic Riccardo Calafiori at left-back for eight successive league matches, gave Arsenal the best attacking balance they have had.
Block Three (seven matches): Rice-Zubimendi develops, defensive records matched
That consistency continued after the October break, helped by Arsenal playing four successive matches in London in 12 days, with Eze starting them all.
This was the only time in the season that Arteta named unchanged line-ups in three successive Premier League matches (against Fulham, Crystal Palace and Burnley).
Arteta has made four changes to his line-up twice, three changes 11 times, two changes nine times and one change three times.
In their most stable period, Rice and Zubimendi’s midfield partnership was developing in and out of possession.
The back four of Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori built up chemistry that matched a 122-year-old record of eight consecutive clean sheets in all competitions. They conceded just 10 shots on target, too. Six came in a 2-0 Carabao Cup win over Brighton, where the back line and midfield were completely rotated, aside from Eze.
Arsenal’s defence, led by Gabriel and William Saliba, grew in confidence (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
They limited three teams to one shot on target — another three had no shots.
Their ability to suffocate opposition teams was key. Whether it was the long legs of Rice cutting out a hopeful clearance or the bouncer-like interventions of Saliba and Gabriel on halfway, as Myles Lewis-Skelly put it, “Nothing comes in our house.”
If only that had been the case after the New Year, too.
Block Four (eight matches): Merino to the rescue, back line instability
With Viktor Gyokeres suffering a muscular injury at the start of November, Arteta’s only fit option up front was Merino. The Spain international scored two and assisted one goal before that month’s international break, then claimed two goals and two assists in the first three games after.
This included an assist from deep for Trossard to open the scoring in the north London derby, as well as an increase in goals from crosses as he headed in against Chelsea and Brentford.
Including Merino’s goals, between matchdays 12 and 17, five of their 11 Premier League goals came from crosses.
Saka created four of them, assisting Merino away to Chelsea, Trossard away to Aston Villa and the two own goals at home to Wolves. He had been creating chances before then, but his numbers were finally backing up his performances. He is the only Premier League player this season to complete 40 or more take-ons and create 40 or more chances (46 for both).
White assisted the other goal from a cross, Merino against Brentford, at a time when the defence was feeling the strain.
Mikel Merino came into his own when needed (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
With Saliba, Gabriel and Cristhian Mosquera all injured, Arteta’s back line lacked the stability it had. Timber moved to centre-back while White started four matches in 10 days as he returned from injury. The overload caused a hamstring injury for White and an ankle problem for Timber.
Arteta has used the analogy that the positional grouping of injuries is like ‘buying tickets’ for more fitness problems down the line, an image that has proven to be apt across almost every area of his squad.
Block Five (four matches): Goals from outside the box
Without a natural break since November, when asked if he can still create them through the winter, Arteta said: “Yeah, we have done it in different ways. Over the Christmas period, or afterwards, when we had four away games in four different competitions.”
The main objective in that Christmas/New Year’s week would have been to build momentum, and Arsenal did that. They edged past Crystal Palace on penalties in the Carabao Cup, then beat Brighton and Aston Villa in the league before a 3-2 win over Bournemouth to start 2026.
A flurry of goals from outside the box helped. The trend has been highlighted this month, but this seven-day period accounts for four of Arsenal’s nine league goals from outside the box.
Arsenal PL goals outside the box 2025-26
| Date | Player | Opposition | Score after goal |
|---|---|---|---|
|
13th Sept 25 |
Nottingham Forest |
1-0 |
|
|
8th Nov 25 |
Sunderland |
2-1 |
|
|
27th Dec 25 |
Brighton & Hove Albion |
1-0 |
|
|
30th Dec 25 |
Aston Villa |
3-0 |
|
|
30th Dec 25 |
Aston Villa |
4-0 |
|
|
3rd Jan 26 |
Bournemouth |
2-1 |
|
|
31st Jan 26 |
Leeds United |
2-0 |
|
|
7th Feb 26 |
Sunderland |
1-0 |
|
|
22nd Feb 26 |
Spurs |
2-1 |
Block Six (six matches): Dropped points and heavy rotation
The main themes of January were a three-match winless run in the Premier League, and four successive away matches in four different competitions.
A failure to build on encouraging starts to matches and a lack of composure were the contributing factors to those dropped points.
Arteta tried to make the most of his squad with heavy rotation, but had more joy in the cups than in the league. Forest away was the first time he made four changes to a Premier League line-up, but he ended up making four substitutions by the hour mark (0-0), and did the same at home to Manchester United when they lost 3-2.
The 3-1 Champions League win away to Inter acted as a prelude to what could be possible with multiple options up front, as Gabriel Jesus scored from the start before Gyokeres added another off the bench.
Nottingham Forest away ended in a frustrating draw (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Block Seven (four matches): Havertz’s revival
Arsenal’s next block of games hinged on the availability of one player: Havertz.
The forward returned against Portsmouth, but this four-match spell represents his only competitive starts in a year. He gave Arsenal something they had been missing for months: a link between their midfield and attack.
Used more as a floating second striker in three of these four matches, his ability to run in behind, find space and hold up the ball was refreshing.
Gyokeres and Jesus continued to swap starts and goals in that week too, but that trio were not the only players to impress. With Saka out injured (hip), Noni Madueke stepped up with a goal and assist from the right wing away to Leeds, while Gabriel Martinelli finished games strongly in that position, providing two assists in two matches for Gyokeres.
Block Eight (four matches): Saka’s move central, Eze back in the fold
Availability and location have defined Arsenal’s last four matches. Havertz has not been fit due to a muscular injury, while three have been played away.
Eze started the first (Brentford away) and last (Spurs away) matches as Arsenal’s No 10, but contrasting fortunes and more minor injuries across the team (with Odegaard and Calafiori) meant experimentation in midfield.
Against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup, Eze was meant to start as the central attacking midfielder, with Lewis-Skelly behind him, but a late injury to Calafiori in the warm-up forced a change. Lewis-Skelly returned to left-back, and Arteta chose to use Saka, initially named as a substitute, as a No 10 for the first time in five years.
With Saka harder to mark, he used him there again away to Wolves. Despite the host’s last-gasp equaliser, playing Saka centrally worked as he opened the scoring, but memories of the first north London derby brought Eze back into the fold after his struggles against Brentford.
He responded with two goals to take his tally to five for the season against Spurs.
With Odegaard and potentially Havertz returning to fitness, Arteta will now have a wealth of options in attack.
Eberechi Eze starred against Spurs — again (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Arteta was thrilled to have a free week. “It’s really important because the amount of games that we are playing, every competition is just incredible and this gives you a chance to actually take a little breath, analyse what we’re doing and go again to the international break.”
Arsenal will have seven matches before March’s international break. Even these can be split into blocks to make them more manageable, with three coming before the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 on March 10/11.
The winter months may seem like a blur, but as the run-in approaches, Arsenal have the chance to bring clarity to years of hard work this spring.