Arteta's Arsenal Must Now Trim the Squad Fat

Arsenal's coronation as Premier League champions has dominated the conversation, yet already the question looms: what comes next for Mikel Arteta?

The Gunners' title triumph has sparked a flurry of correspondence from supporters with their own vision for summer business. One particular fan's plea cuts through the noise: it's time to move on from the deadwood clogging up the squad. These underperformers know who they are, and their presence only hampers the team's ambitions going forward.

Beyond the cull, there's a broader hope that Arteta might now relax his grip slightly. The relentless pressure he's operated under—delivering a trophy after nearly a quarter-century of hurt—was suffocating. With that monkey off the back, supporters are calling for the Arsenal side to rediscover the more fluid, attacking football that characterised the earlier chapters of his reign.

The scenes at the Emirates have been cathartic. Supporters from every background, every walk of life, united in celebration. That's what this sport offers when it's at its best—a genuine force for collective joy in a fractured world.

Yet there's also a note of caution. Arsenal now face PSG next weekend, and this is their moment to prove the old patterns won't resurface. Since Belletti's knees buckled in Paris in 2006, underperformance has been the Gunners' calling card. Even the glory years were punctuated by fragile title defences and late-season collapses. If Arsenal can show they've genuinely turned a corner—that this isn't merely a blip in a longer narrative of near-misses—then perhaps this title truly marks a new beginning.

For now, the dust is settling on a season that, despite the glorious conclusion, was described by one fan as the most unbearable in memory. The constant noise, the antagonistic football discourse, the relentless wind-ups between rival supporters—it all made even victory feel tainted. Now that the league is won, perhaps there's space to breathe and enjoy what's been achieved.

The challenge for Arteta is clear: don't just win once. Make this the start of something sustained.