Mikel Arteta has been named the Premier League Manager of the Season for 2025/26, collecting the Sir Alex Ferguson Trophy at the League Managers Association awards on Monday evening. It is the first time he has won the award.

Arteta becomes the first Arsenal manager to receive the honour since Arsene Wenger, who won it in each of his three title-winning campaigns in 1997/98, 2001/02 and 2003/04. The 22-year gap between Arsenal winners mirrors the 22-year gap between Arsenal titles.

The award is voted for by fellow managers, which makes it a peer-level recognition of what Arteta built this season. He beat Pep Guardiola, Andoni Iraola, Keith Andrews, Michael Carrick and Regis Le Bris to the prize. Arne Slot won it last season after Liverpool's title; Arteta takes it after finally completing the step that eluded us across three consecutive second-place finishes.

The numbers behind the season speak for themselves. We won 27 and drew seven of our 38 league matches, finishing seven points clear of Manchester City. We sat at the top of the table for all but one week after going first in October. We kept 19 clean sheets, conceded only 27 goals, and became the first team in Premier League history to complete an entire season without having a player sent off or conceding a penalty. David Raya's 19 shut-outs matched the club record set by David Seaman.

Arteta is also the first manager in Premier League history to win the title with a club he previously represented as a player. He spent five years at Arsenal as a midfielder before returning as head coach in December 2019, inheriting a squad that was drifting outside the Champions League places. Six and a half years later, the league trophy is in the cabinet and the Champions League final is three days away.

Speaking after lifting the trophy at Selhurst Park on Sunday, Arteta urged the squad to carry the energy from the title celebrations into Budapest: "We need that energy to flow and going against that, I think it will be a big mistake."

He is right. The job is not finished. Saturday in Budapest will determine whether this season ends as a title-winning campaign or a double-winning one. The Manager of the Season award is deserved without reservation, but the final chapter has not been written yet.