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The first thing to know about this Arsenal team is that they are no longer banter material. They are no longer chasing respect either. That phase is over.
Truthfully, even the mockery had started to fade in recent years. Arsenal were competing again, going toe to toe with Europe’s elite, but the titles never came. That was always the missing piece. Still, the signs were there. The feeling around the club, around this team, was that the glory days were returning. Not as nostalgia, but as something inevitable.
On Sunday, Arsenal lifted the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years. And now, a few days later, they travel to Budapest for the biggest game in the club’s modern history: a UEFA Champions League final against reigning champions Paris Saint Germain.
For Mikel Arteta’s side, it is more than just a chance to complete the double. It is an opportunity to win Arsenal’s first ever Champions League title and finally place this team where it has spent the last three years threatening to belong, at the very top of world football.
There is already a conversation beginning to creep in around this Arsenal side. If they complete the job in Budapest and add the Champions League to the Premier League title they won on Sunday, where exactly do they stand in the club’s history?
More specifically, would they surpass Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles?
For some, even asking the question feels close to sacrilege. The Invincibles remain sacred in English football history, a team wrapped in mythology after going an entire Premier League season unbeaten in 2004. To many Arsenal supporters, that side exists beyond comparison.
But part of that is nostalgia.
Because if this Arsenal team win the Champions League next weekend, it becomes difficult to argue against them eclipsing what the Invincibles achieved. Whether people are comfortable hearing that or not.
The Invincibles finished with 90 points. This current Arsenal side finished with 85 and matched them for number of league wins. The difference, potentially, is Europe. Wenger’s great side never conquered the continent. Arteta’s might.
And that changes the conversation completely.
Maybe the safer thing is to simply appreciate both teams for what they are without forcing comparisons across eras. Maybe that is fairer. But football has never worked like that, especially at clubs built on legacy and symbolism.
If Arsenal lift the Champions League in Budapest, this team will not just be remembered fondly. It will have a genuine claim to being the greatest side the club has ever produced.
Now to the game itself, proper
Arsenal up against a demonic Paris Saint-Germain team.
Their Champions League win last season was also their first, and it was one they truly deserved. The manner in which they went on their run to the final, and the way they handled the final itself, was superb.
Now they are back here again.
Luis Enrique has transformed the side so much that a semi-final stage feels like the minimum requirement going into each season, and that, alongside being holders, makes them a huge favourite for the game.
Arsenal, just like in the league, have not fluked their way here. They have constantly built themselves to be at this level. Since returning to the UEFA Champions League in the 2023–24 season, they have shown real mettle.
They lost to Bayern Munich 3–2 in the 2023–24 season in the quarter-final. In the 2024–25 season, they lost to holders Paris Saint-Germain 3–1 on aggregate in the semi-final, having dispatched Real Madrid 5–1 in the quarter-final.
This season, they have remained unbeaten throughout the competition, conceding just six goals overall. This is not a fluke. It is a team that has worked its way up to this level and shown how much of a big side they are in terms of competing for the major honours.
It is a final that should bring entertainment, definitely. Both teams are at the top level, and whoever comes out on top will have earned it.
For Arsenal, there is the chance to write themselves into history and, in the process, move beyond the Invincibles in the club’s story.
For PSG, it is about a second Champions League title and the chance to deepen a legacy that is still being shaped at the very top of European football.
Whatever the odds say, there will be a winner by Saturday night, and you can stake right here at Bet9ja on who you are backing.
