That’s because for the fourth season in a row, we have finished on top of the London derbies mini-league, having picked up more points from capital clashes than any other side from the city. In fact, we finished eight points clear of our nearest challengers:

Premier League London mini-table 2025/26

Out of our 10 Premier League derby days last season, we remained unbeaten in all of them, the highlight being doing the double over Tottenham Hotspur with a pair of 4-1 victories. Six points were also taken off Crystal Palace, West Ham United and Fulham, while Chelsea and Brentford were beaten at Emirates Stadium before 1-1 draws in west London.

It is just the seventh time an undefeated record in London derbies has been achieved since the division’s formation in 1992, of which we are responsible for six of them. Incredibly, in the past 21 years, only we have achieved the feat:

Teams unbeaten in PL London derbies in a season

This is the 17th time we have finished top of the London table in the 34 seasons of the Premier League, six more than Chelsea’s total of 10, with Spurs way behind in third with just five successes:

Most PL London mini-league wins

Our incredible record in London derbies becomes even more impressive given that we also knocked Crystal Palace out of the League Cup before beating Chelsea in both legs of the subsequent semi-finals. That means that going back to last season, our current undefeated run in London derbies stretches to 17 matches across all competitions.

But when it comes to Premier League history, no manager who has taken charge of more than 20 London derbies can match the feats of Mikel Arteta.

Our final day victory at Selhurst Park before being presented with the Premier League trophy was our boss’ 46th win from 73 league derbies, handing him a 63% win ratio and putting him at the top of the list when it comes to capital clashes:

Managers with best records in PL London derbies (min 20 games)