Arsenal are Premier League champions. The 22-year wait is over.
Mikel Arteta's side were confirmed as 2025/26 title winners on Tuesday evening after Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium. City needed victory to keep the race alive heading into the final day, but a goal from teenage forward Eli Junior Kroupi — his 13th of the season — gave the hosts the lead, and despite Erling Haaland's late equaliser deep into added time, City could not find the winner they needed. Arsenal's 22-year wait was over before they had even kicked a ball.
It is Arsenal's 14th English league title and their first since the legendary Invincibles season of 2003/04, when Arsene Wenger's side went the entire campaign unbeaten. For a generation of supporters who have watched rivals accumulate trophies, the relief and joy was immediate and overwhelming.
Arteta, who was watching the City match at home with his family, was almost seven years in the making of this moment. He took charge of a struggling Arsenal side in December 2019 and rebuilt the club from the foundations upward. He came agonisingly close in three consecutive campaigns, finishing as runners-up each time, before finally seeing his project deliver the reward it deserved.
The title was effectively put beyond City's reach the night before, when Kai Havertz headed Arsenal to a 1-0 victory over Burnley at the Emirates on Sunday. That result left City requiring a win at Bournemouth — a task they were ultimately unable to complete. Arteta later told reporters he called Bournemouth fans "supporters of us" in recognition of what their result meant.
Arteta becomes the first former Premier League player to win the league title as a manager, having played for Arsenal himself between 2011 and 2016. He has done so with a squad built on intensity, defensive organisation and collective belief — qualities that have defined this group across a relentless final stretch of the season.
Arsenal's season is not over. On May 30 in Budapest, they face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final — the club's first appearance in the European showpiece since 2006. A double that once seemed a fantasy now sits within reach.
