Arsenal's Title Defence: Mikel Arteta's Challenge for the Squad

Mikel Arteta has thrown down an early gauntlet to his Arsenal squad, demanding they show the hunger to defend their Premier League crown – and making it clear that Myles Lewis-Skelly will not be sacrificed to fund their title push.

Arsenal open the new campaign at home to Coventry on Friday night, stepping into a role they have not occupied for generations: champions expected to stay champions. They have not retained the league since the 1930s. That history hangs over this season.

Recent numbers against newly promoted sides underline the scale of the expectation. Arsenal have won 17 of their last 18 league games against teams coming up from the Championship. No promoted club has left the Emirates with three points since November 2010, a 45‑match stretch that has hardened into a fortress record.

On paper, Coventry arrive as ideal first opponents. Arsenal have just beaten Manchester City in the Community Shield, the mood around the club is buoyant and the champions are heavy favourites to start with a statement win.

Arteta is not buying the comfort of that script.

“We need to breathe and we need to take this organically because it’s going to be a long marathon,” he said on the eve of the season.

For him, the challenge is not just repeating last year. It is surpassing it. “What we need to show is that desire and ambition to be better than what we were last season, a month ago, or a week ago when we played Man City. We have the ability to improve, to evolve, and that’s what I sense and I feel around the club and especially around the players.”

The question now is how Arsenal cope with the new reality of being the team everyone wants to beat. Are they the hunters or the hunted?

Asked if his side begin the campaign with a target on their backs, Arteta pushed back slightly on the narrative but left no doubt about his preference.

“Today, no, because we start from scratch and we’re going to have to prove we have the level to go back to that position again,” he said. “But I think that happened in the last three seasons – at some point we were first, at some point we were chasing it, and you never know what’s better. You give me the choice, I want to be first, I want to be hunted, and I want to be in control of our future, rather than depending on somebody else.”

Those words frame the season. Arsenal want to lead from the front, not lurk in the slipstream.

They are trying to do that while balancing the books after a bold summer move. The £75m signing of Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle has reshaped their midfield and their finances. To help cover that outlay, Arsenal have explored sales, and it is understood that Myles Lewis-Skelly was offered to Manchester United and Chelsea earlier in the window.

That possibility now looks closed.

Lewis-Skelly, 19, has surged into the spotlight over the past few months. The academy graduate started in last season’s Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain and then delivered a standout display in midfield against City in Cardiff on Sunday. Performances like that make him both a valuable asset and a tempting one to cash in on.

Arteta is adamant that will not happen.

He is “100%” confident Lewis-Skelly will remain an Arsenal player this window and spoke with clear affection about what homegrown talent brings to a title-winning squad.

“The players that have been raised in our system, and they feel generally that love and that connection with the club, bring something else, there’s no question about that,” he said. “We need to look after them in a really special way because they bring value that is very difficult to find. That’s why, when we can, we want to protect those assets as much as possible, develop them and make them extremely important for the club.”

For all the noise around big fees and big targets, that is the core of Arteta’s vision: a champion team built not just on signings like Guimarães, but on academy products such as Lewis-Skelly who understand the badge.

The title defence starts under the lights against Coventry. The numbers say Arsenal should roll. Arteta’s words suggest he expects something far more demanding – a season-long examination of whether his squad really has the desire to stay on top while everyone else lines up to take their shot.