Arsenal Claim Record Eighth Decade of English Top-Flight Glory, Surpassing Manchester United

Arsenal have written themselves into a unique chapter of English football history after claiming the 2025/26 Premier League title, ending a 22-year drought that stretched back to their iconic 2003/04 ‘Invincibles’ campaign. The triumph under Mikel Arteta has not only restored Arsenal to the summit of English football but also delivered a record no other club in the country can match.

By securing the championship in the 2020s, Arsenal have now won at least one English top-flight title across eight distinct decades — more than any other club. That tally moves them past Manchester United, who hold the corresponding record across seven decades.

Arsenal’s decade-by-decade top-flight title record reads as follows: five First Division titles in the 1930s, one in the 1940s, one in the 1950s, one in the 1970s, one in the 1980s, two across the 1990s (one First Division, one Premier League), two Premier League titles in the 2000s, and now one Premier League title in the 2020s.

Manchester United’s seven-decade haul spans: one First Division title in the 1900s, one in the 1910s, three in the 1950s, two in the 1960s, five Premier League titles in the 1990s, five more in the 2000s, and two Premier League titles in the 2010s.

The 2025/26 triumph is Arsenal’s first league championship since Arsène Wenger’s unbeaten side lifted the trophy at the end of the 2003/04 season, a campaign that remains the only undefeated title-winning season in the Premier League era. That 22-year gap between domestic titles is the longest in the club’s modern history.

Arteta, who joined Arsenal as head coach in December 2019, has overseen a significant rebuild at the Emirates Stadium. The Spaniard came close to ending the drought in the 2022/23 season, when Arsenal led the Premier League for much of the campaign before finishing second behind Manchester City. A similar outcome followed in 2023/24, before the club finally converted their challenge into silverware in the current campaign.

The record further underscores the contrast in fortunes between the two clubs in recent years. Manchester United, whose last league title came under Sir Alex Ferguson in 2012/13, have not added to their seven-decade tally since the 2010s, while Arsenal’s success in the 2020s has now definitively separated the two historic rivals in this particular statistical category.

With the title secured, attention will turn to how Arteta’s squad approach the 2026/27 season, where they will be expected to defend their championship and compete across European competition.