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In a professional sports culture increasingly infused with analytics, hard-to-measure concepts like “confidence” and “winning DNA” are either thrown around by former players and managers as if those concepts were obvious, or brushed off by the analytically-inclined as “not real” metrics. The topic–and how it might impact my enjoyment of the rest of this campaign–is top of mind as the Arsenal men enter 2026 leading the Premier League and the Champions League group stage. First, some context. Being an Arsenal supporter has been difficult in recent years. Despite minor successes in the FA Cup, the past 20 years have witnessed a descent from regular EPL title contender in the Premier League and significant Champions League competitor in the Champions League to being out of Europe altogether. Were there reasons for the regression? Certainly, chief among them the financial impact of the construction of the Emirates Stadium. Did that make those years any easier? Not really. The years since Stan Kroenke assumed full control of the club and started rebuilding it into something more closely resembling its peak have been fun. When you are at the top of the heap, it is hard to get excited about qualifying for the Champions League or being in the Premier League title race without actually winning it. After bottoming out, those accomplishments felt good again. So while Arsenal have won their way back into the top echelon of the European game, they don’t yet have any hardware to show for it. In the Premier League, finishing second the first time felt great. (We were in a title race!) The second time felt a little less great, with creeping worries that we didn’t quite have the stuff to compete with Pep’s City. Finishing second a third consecutive time, especially in a season when City were in disarray and Liverpool had lost their manager, increased the doubts that Arteta and the current squad had what it takes to win it all. Even an extended run to the semi-finals of the Champions League wasn’t enough to make 2024-2025 feel like a step forward. Bringing us back to the concept of the intangibles that go into a championship team, Arsenal have had the talent to win the Premier League for the past few seasons. Manchester City have had title-worthy talent. Liverpool have had title-worthy talent. Of those three clubs, only the latter two have lifted the trophy since Arteta took charge at the Emirates. Deducing why that is has been the subject of much debate over the past 18 months. One could argue that Arsenal’s bad luck with injuries to key players like Saka, Odegaard, and Saliba have tipped the balance between finishing first and finishing second. Another explanation could be that Arsenal haven’t enjoyed a Erling Haaland- or Mo Salah-level prolific scorer to rescue them when Plan A and Plan B fail. Finally, the case could be made that Manchester City and Liverpool, by virtue of recent successes in the Premier League and the Champions League expect to win when things get tough, whereas Arsenal–blanked of both those prizes in recent memory (or ever in the case of the Champions League)– don’t expect success when the chips are down. As 2026 gets underway , the Gunners seem to have addressed the first of these concerns. The squad is so deep in quality that they have thrived despite a first half of the season fraught with injuries at every outfield position group. (Saliba, Gabriel, Odegaard, Saka, and Havertz–nearly half of the starting eleven from last season–have missed significant time.) Last year, that would have been devastating. This year, there are so many quality reserves that Ethan Nwanri and Max Dowman can barely get minutes off the bench despite injuries at their preferred positions. As for the arrival of a prolific scorer, while Viktor Gyorkeres was supposed to be that guy, he continues to struggle to adjust to the Premier League and a new style of play. On the plus side, Liverpool have seen Mo Salah regress and Alexander Isak fail to rise to the opportunity of being the difference maker at Anfield. City still have Haaland, but Arsenal lead Pep’s side by six points despite the Norwegian striker leading the Premier League in goals by a wide margin. Now the big question: can Arsenal go from thinking they can win to knowing they can win when the pressure is on with a title rival? Unfortunately, there’s no objective way to gauge progress in this area. They let up late goals at Liverpool, Villa, and Sunderland in the first half of the season, but scored late to rescue points against Manchester City, Wolves, and Bournemouth. They dominated Villa and Bayern Munich at the Emirates. As I look forward to the second half of the season for the Arsenal men, it seems clear they have the talent to win every competition going forward. With Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz returning from long-term injuries to join Gyorkeres and Merino, there is a depth of striking options that should shrink City’s advantage with Haaland at the number nine position. The question that remains is whether they have the resolve–the winning mentality–to continue to ruthlessly grind out results and not let City back in the Premier League race, while at the same time getting up for every round of the knockout stages of the Champions League. Once upon a time, during the end of the Arsene Wenger era, there was a stretch in February or March where the Gunners would just go off the rails for a couple of weeks. They would bomb out of the FA Cup, lose a couple of Premier League matches against bottom half opposition, and not show up for a big match in Europe. A season that seemed hopeful turned to dust over the course of 14 to 21 days. To get over the hump and win it all this season, that is the history that they must overcome…starting with Liverpool on Thursday.