Arsenal End 22-Year Wait for Premier League Title After Man City Slip

They did not even need to play.

Arsenal were crowned Premier League champions on Tuesday night after Manchester City drew 1-1 with Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, leaving Pep Guardiola’s side four points behind with just one game remaining. The title was mathematically confirmed, and north London lost its mind.

Twenty-two years. Four runners-up finishes. Three consecutive near-misses under Mikel Arteta alone. It is over.

The Gunners’ players gathered at their London Colney training base to watch City’s game together, and when Erling Haaland’s late equaliser was not enough to give City the win they needed, the celebrations began. Declan Rice posted a photo on Instagram with Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Myles Lewis-Skelly and sporting director Andrea Berta. The caption was three words: “I told you all.. it’s done.”

That line means everything when you know the backstory.

“It’s Not Done”

Go back to April 19. Arsenal had just lost 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium. City had closed the gap to three points and held a game in hand. Most people outside the Arsenal dressing room were ready to write the title off. Again.

At full-time, cameras caught Rice walking across the pitch and shouting to Martin Odegaard: “It’s not done.”

Arteta revealed what that moment meant to him. “That was the feeling that, probably without them expressing it in the dressing room, I felt immediately,” he said. “And that was very powerful.”

Arsenal went on to win four of their next five league matches without conceding a single goal. City dropped points against Everton, drawing 3-3, and then failed to beat Bournemouth when it mattered most. Eli Junior Kroupi’s goal for Bournemouth, cancelled out late by Haaland, was enough to hand Arsenal the title without kicking a ball on Tuesday.

Rice had told his teammates it was not done. On Tuesday night, it was done.

How They Got Here

This was not a comfortable title win in the end. Arsenal led the Premier League for 200 consecutive days at one point this season. They arrived at April looking in control, only for City to drag them into a proper fight over eleven days that tested everything Arteta had built.

The response was the most telling thing. Rather than crumble, Arsenal returned to the type of defensive football that has defined their season. David Raya kept 19 clean sheets across the campaign, winning the Golden Glove for a third straight season. William Saliba and Gabriel were immovable at centre-back. Viktor Gyokeres, signed last summer, led the attack and finished as the club’s top scorer. Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Leandro Trossard and Mikel Merino all contributed with goals and assists throughout. Martin Odegaard pulled the strings. Rice ran the engine room.

Arsenal’s final push included a 1-0 win over Burnley on Monday, with Kai Havertz heading home from a Saka corner. It was their 18th Premier League goal from a set-piece this season, a record. The Gunners have been the most clinical side in England from dead-ball situations, and it has been decisive.

What Arteta Has Done

Mikel Arteta arrived at Arsenal in December 2019 with the club seventh in the Premier League and no clear identity. What he built since then has been one of the more remarkable management jobs the Premier League has seen in recent years.

He finished runner-up in 2022/23, two points behind City. Runner-up again in 2023/24, two points behind City again. The title got away in 2024/25 when injuries derailed the campaign and Liverpool finished ten points clear. This season, Arteta got it right.

He becomes the first former Premier League player to win the title as a manager. He also does it having been a player for the club between 2011 and 2016, which makes the achievement personal in a way that goes beyond tactics and training sessions.

Arsene Wenger, who led the Invincibles in 2003/04, the last time Arsenal won this trophy, sent a video message to the squad. His words: “You did it. Champions go on when others stop. This is your time. Now, go on and enjoy every moment.”

Even Guardiola was generous. “Congratulations Arsenal,” he said in his post-match news conference. “Mikel, staff, backroom staff, fans, for this Premier League title. Well deserved.”

Arsenal collect the Premier League trophy at Crystal Palace on Sunday before heading to Budapest the following week, where they face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final on May 30. They went through the entire European campaign unbeaten, eliminating Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting CP and Atletico Madrid to get there. They have never won the Champions League.

The Premier League is done. Arsenal are champions for the first time since the Invincibles, 22 years ago.

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The bigger question now is whether this group can do something that squad never did.