Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta demanded "excellence has to be our standard" ahead of the 2026-27 season.

The Gunners won the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years last season, edging Manchester City to the trophy ahead of the final game of the campaign.

Arsenal also reached the Champions League and EFL Cup finals in 2025-26, but lost to Paris Saint-Germain and the Citizens, respectively.

Nevertheless, it was an impressive campaign for Arteta's side, who became the first team in Premier League history to neither concede a penalty nor receive a red card in a single season.

Arsenal also scored 19 goals from corners in the Premier League last season, the most of any side in a single campaign in the competition's history.

The Gunners are now preparing to defend their title, and Arteta has urged his players to hold high standards throughout the season.

"Excellence has to be our standard and this has to drive us to attack the future," Arteta told the club website.

"The way we behave daily with more and more determination and ambition because we've shown that we've got it. 

"Now we have to show that we belong to this level, and we want to increase and take this football club to a different dimension.

"The players, it was incredible – the shape that they have all come back, better than ever. That tells you the direction that we want to seek and the culture that we have set.

"Then the way they are training, the questions that they ask you, the direction that they want to take. They are all super powerful signs.

“My ambition is that daily we nail the standards and the requirements on the day to be better the following day. That is the thing that we have to control. And maintaining that ambition, that discipline, that commitment and that positive energy through 11 months.

"That is the responsibility that we all have. If we all achieve that, we are going to be in a really strong position in May.”

Arsenal face Girona, Real Betis, Borussia Dortmund and Como in pre-season before taking on Enzo Maresca's Man City in the Community Shield on August 16.

Arteta's side start their Premier League title defence five days later when they host Championship winners Coventry City.