Arsenal Team Set Guide: 2025-26 Topps Checklist & Where to Buy

“Arsenal team set” is one of the most-searched ways collectors look for Gunners cardboard — and it’s also one of the most misunderstood. A team set isn’t a standalone product Topps prints on its own; it’s every Arsenal card pulled out of a wider release. Once you understand that, buying one gets simple: you either grab a ready-made base set, or you build it from singles and keep only the cards you care about.

This guide covers both routes, lists the key 2025-26 Arsenal singles by real card number, and explains how team-set numbering actually works so you don’t overpay for the wrong card.

The fastest route: a pre-made base team set

If you just want the Arsenal base cards in one purchase without ripping packs, a pre-made base team set is the easiest buy in the hobby. A seller has already pulled the club’s base cards from the release and bundled them — the 2025-26 Premier League Arsenal base team set runs 18 base cards, covering the first-team squad in one shot.

Know what it is and isn’t: a base team set is base cards only — no autographs, no numbered parallels, no short-print inserts. That’s exactly what most collectors want as a foundation (a clean, affordable run of the whole squad), and then they add the marquee singles and hits separately. It’s the smart starting point for a new Arsenal collector or a gift.

Building the 2025-26 Arsenal team set from singles

If you’d rather cherry-pick — the stars, the new signings, the rookies, the shiny parallels — build the set from singles. Here are the current Arsenal cards worth targeting by release and card number, all licensed and all verifiable on the back of the card:

Topps UEFA Club Competitions 2025-26 (the flagship)

The current premier licensed Arsenal set for European nights. The Arsenal names to anchor a team set here:

• #42 — Viktor Gyökeres. The club’s headline 2025 signing and new No. 9, in his first Arsenal-kit base card. The hottest first-Arsenal-card chase on the roster right now — see the Gyökeres hub for the full read.
• #113 — William Saliba. The modern-defence cornerstone and a genuine value pick; defenders trade below the attackers with a long runway. More on the Saliba hub.
• Born Champ #BC-1 — Bukayo Saka. An insert, not a base card — the homegrown talisman gets the marquee subset slot. Saka is the club’s most-chased modern Gunner; the Saka hub tracks his full card pool.

For the complete format breakdown — base vs. parallels vs. inserts — see the 2025-26 Topps UEFA Club Competitions Arsenal review. If you’re chasing the shiny stuff, the refractor ladder lives in the Topps Chrome UEFA Arsenal guide. And if you’re not yet sure which release you’re building from, the Arsenal card sets index lays out every product line that carries Gunners — base, Chrome, Deco, Match Attax, Panini and the 1990s sticker era — and how each one appears on a listing.

Topps Premier League 2025-26 (the domestic set)

The league’s own Topps release, separate from the UEFA line:

• #15 — Kai Havertz. The versatile forward’s current domestic base card — a squad staple every Arsenal team set wants.

Topps Now 2025-26 (moment cards & rookies)

Print-to-order cards tied to real match moments — short windows, so they’re checklist pieces a lot of team-set builders miss:

• EPL #97 — Leandro Trossard. The Belgian’s Premier League Topps Now card.
• UEFA Champions League #116 — Max Dowman (RC). A genuine rookie card for one of the academy’s brightest young names, from his Champions League moment. Rookie-intent buyers should note the RC flag on this one.

New to rookie flags and card numbers? The Arsenal rookie cards list breaks down what actually counts as a rookie, and the best Arsenal cards list covers the marquee names across eras.

How team-set numbering actually works

The single most useful thing to understand before you buy: in a flagship release like Topps UEFA Club Competitions, Arsenal cards are numbered within the full set checklist, not in one contiguous team block. That’s why Gyökeres is #42, Saliba is #113 and Saka’s Born Champ is #BC-1 — they’re scattered across the 200-card master checklist, mixed in with every other club. There’s no “Arsenal #1–#18” run inside the flagship set.

A few logistics that save money:

• Base number ≠ parallel number. A card’s base number stays the same across its parallels — a #42 base and a #42 gold parallel are the same player, same slot, just different finishes and print runs.
• Inserts have their own numbering. Subsets like Born Champ use a prefix (BC-1), so they sit on a separate checklist from the base cards — don’t confuse a #BC-1 insert with a base #1.
• The release is on the back. Two listings can both say “Arsenal team set” and contain completely different cards. The set name and card number are printed on the card back — check there before you pay.
• Print runs shift year to year. Squad changes mean the Arsenal run in each set changes every season; verify the current card count against that release’s published checklist rather than assuming it matches last year’s.

None of this is about card values — it’s about knowing exactly which card you’re buying. For the wider format language (base, parallels, refractors, autos), the collecting Arsenal cards guide and the Arsenal team hub are the best next stops.

Where to buy: base set vs. singles

Both routes are below. Grab the pre-made base team set on Amazon for a fast, complete base run, or use the live eBay rails to pull individual cards — the marquee names, the Dowman rookie, or numbered parallels — at the condition and price point you want. Most serious Arsenal collectors run both: a base team set as the backbone, singles for the stars and hits.