Birth story of Messi, Ronaldo and Yamal. What has changed since Arsenal’s last Premier League title?

When Patrick Vieira lifted the Premier League gold trophy in the sky at Highbury in 2004, Arsenal seemed to have written the end of a complete history of an unbeaten team, a French manager from Japan who changed English football and a generation that would later become an eternal part of the game’s memory.

But what no one could have imagined at the time was that the London club would miss out on a league title for 22 years, and that football would change in those years in such a way that the world of 2026 would be almost entirely different from the world of the Invincibles.

Now, after Manchester City slipped up against Bournemouth, Arsenal are finally back on the Premier League throne as champions for the 2025-2026 season, but this time the comeback will not look like any traditional comeback. Because the club that left the summit under Henry and Bergkamp is back there in the age of artificial intelligence, data science and billionaire contracts.

Arsenal bounced back after the features of the game changed, the power maps changed and entire generations were introduced that weren’t even born when the Gunners won their last title.

Between Wenger’s Arsenal of 2004 and Arteta’s Arsenal of 2026, almost everything has happened.