Mikel Arteta has challenged Arsenal to keep their feet on the ground as they close in on a piece of history. A win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday would give the Gunners eight straight victories to begin a season for the first time since 1903, but the manager made clear that the milestone cannot become a distraction.

“We’ve got a really tough opponent tomorrow so we’re going to have to earn the right to win the game,” he warned. “But certainly that will be the mindset of the players and the team.”

Arteta was also asked whether he had expected Arsenal to open the campaign with seven consecutive wins. He said the signs were encouraging over the summer, even if he knew the challenge would be severe.

“Well, we know how complicated it is to win a football match at this level,” he confessed. “So to win seven, it tells the story.

“After the World Cup , especially, there were a lot of unknowns about how the players and the team were going to react. We didn’t have any time with them to work together. But I said from day one, I think the attitude and what I was seeing, I was really impressed with.

“Then you have to put it down to performances. We had a bit of luck as well, for sure, to win four matches. And we are here. And then we want to make another one for sure tomorrow.”

Arsenal’s best start to a season remains the eight-game run from 1903-04. In that era, Woolwich Arsenal were in the Second Division, and their sequence included emphatic wins over sides that finished in very different places in the table. Even so, the campaign also featured a 4-0 victory over Manchester United, with Arsenal ending the season with the division’s highest totals for goals scored and fewest conceded.

Martín Zubimendi’s position in Arsenal’s setup has changed quickly. After being close to a regular place last season as the Gunners won the Premier League and reached the Champions League final, he now finds himself searching for a way back into Mikel Arteta’s strongest side.

There were already warning signs at the end of the previous campaign. Zubimendi did not start the Champions League final, the semifinal second leg, or any of Arsenal’s last four Premier League games in midfield. In three of those matches he came on as a substitute, and in the other he was used at right back.

The 2026/27 season has brought more uncertainty. Across Arsenal’s first four matches in the league, Zubimendi has not started in the Premier League. He has been used from the bench against Napoli in the Champions League and against Manchester City in the Community Shield. Much of that is down to the rise of Myles Lewis-Skelly, who is also keeping summer signing Bruno Guimarães out of Arteta’s preferred XI.

His first start of the campaign came this week, and it arrived in an unfamiliar role. Zubimendi filled in at right back against Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup after the injury to Ben White. With competition in midfield so strong, that may now look like his clearest route back into the team.

Jurriën Timber has only recently returned from a long spell out and was rested for the Ipswich match. Ezri Konsa and Cristhian Mosquera can both play at right back, although Mosquera is currently sidelined and Konsa is covering for the injured William Saliba.

That leaves an opening for Zubimendi if he can adapt again. Arteta has already shown a willingness to use technically gifted Spanish midfielders in altered roles, with Mikel Merino previously thriving as a makeshift striker.

Mikel Merino has drawn a notable comparison between Arsenal teenager Max Dowman and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal after the 16-year-old’s eye-catching showing in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Ipswich Town.

Merino, who knows Yamal well from international duty with Spain, said Dowman shares more than just talent with the Barcelona forward. In his view, the pair are alike in how they handle pressure and attention.

“There are some similarities in terms of their character,” Merino reflected. “They don’t care about the spotlight. They thrive when pressure is at the highest. They are always up for the challenge and they are not shy at all, even facing the biggest names in the game.

“[Dowman] is an unbelievable talent. We knew it, but every time he goes on the pitch and plays against grown men he makes the difference. He is a big talent and we have to take care of him.

“We have to keep pushing him. He needs to keep learning—eyes and ears open always. There is still big room for improvement in a lot of areas and he knows that. So we are going to be by his side trying to get him to his best level.

“It is a thin line. It is very difficult to have equilibrium sometimes with him, because obviously you want him to shine and show everyone the talent that he has. But you have to sometimes remind them that they are human beings and they are part of a bigger squad and team.

“The good thing with these kind of players—Lamine and Max—is that they are special talents, but at the same time they are very humble. They are always keen to learn and listen to the veterans. That is priceless.”

Dowman, who turns 17 on Dec. 31, has now delivered three goals and one assist in 14 senior appearances for Mikel Arteta’s side.

Arteta, though, stressed that progress must be handled carefully. He said the Premier League presents a different challenge from other leagues and that Dowman’s development needs patience and the right conditions.

“Everything is possible,” Arteta said when asked if Dowman could become a first-team regular. “The probability probably is extremely low, because you don’t see the players with the capacity to handle just the physicality of the game.

“Not only that, but the demands that you have to put your bodies through in the week to be able to be in a good condition to compete, the amount of information, the challenges that you have to face.

“But he’s doing it, and he’s doing it really well every time he’s got a chance. What we have to do is look after him. He’s 16 years old, you don’t see that in this league.

“In other leagues in Europe, that’s a totally different context. But in this league, with the demands that the league, the players and everything puts on you, we really need to make sure every time we throw him in, he’s in the right context with the right preparation, and that’s what we are trying to do.”