Martin Zubimendi’s first Premier League season at Arsenal has been built on the kind of reliability every title-winning midfield needs. No noise. No big headlines. Just pure control, availability and repeatable quality.
The headline number is huge: 38 league appearances from 38 available matches, with 34 starts and four from the bench. For an outfield player in his debut Premier League season, that level of trust says everything. Mikel Arteta did not ease him in. He made him a permanent part of Arsenal’s structure.
Zubimendi finished the league campaign with five goals and one assist, a strong attacking output for a midfielder whose first job is to connect and protect. A debut season with 3,001 Premier League minutes, and only four yellow cards, a clean disciplinary record for a player operating in high-pressure central zones.
His value was clearest without the ball. Zubimendi made 68 tackles, 39 interceptions and 116 recoveries, while being dribbled past only 21 times. Those numbers explain why Arsenal looked so hard to play through. He was not just sitting in front of the defence. He was reading danger early, shutting lanes, and giving Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard the platform to play higher.
That balance mattered across a title season. Arsenal’s best football has been built on territory, pressure and short distances between the lines. Zubimendi gave them the rhythm to sustain it. He kept Arsenal compact when they attacked, and he made counter-attacks harder to launch. When a team wants to dominate without becoming open, that player becomes essential.
There was also a calmness to his passing that does not always jump off a highlights reel. Arsenal did not need him to be spectacular every week. They needed him to make the next pass, hold position, win the second ball and stop games from becoming wild. He did that almost every time he played.
Five goals from midfield added another layer, but his real contribution was structural. Arsenal signed a controller and got a cornerstone. In a season that ended with medals around necks, Zubimendi’s 38 appearances may be the cleanest measure of his importance: Arteta could not leave him out.
