Arsenal end 22-year wait as Premier League champions after City draw
Arsenal’s 22-year wait ended in a 1-1 City draw, then thousands packed north London as players were still celebrating outside the Emirates at 5am.
Arsenal’s 22-year wait for a league title ended without a ball being kicked at Emirates Stadium, a release that sent north London into the streets and locked in the club’s first championship since the 2003-04 Invincibles.
Manchester City’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Tuesday confirmed Arsenal as 2025-26 Premier League champions and closed the door on any late chase. It also ended a run of three straight second-place finishes, turning another season of near misses into a title that restores Arsenal to the top of English football.
Outside the Emirates and in nearby pubs, supporters poured into the streets as the result came through. Fireworks lit the night sky, flares burned in the crowds and chants of “Champions! Champions! Ole! Ole! Ole!” rolled through north London as fans, many of them streaming out of homes and bars at once, celebrated a trophy that had felt distant for two decades.
Inside London Colney, Arsenal’s players had watched the decisive match together. When the title was confirmed, the squad and staff broke into hugs, dancing and chants of “Campeones, Campeones, Ole Ole Ole!” The scenes reflected more than relief: they marked the end of an institutional drought that had shaped the club’s identity, its supporters’ expectations and the pressure on Mikel Arteta’s project.
By around 5am on Wednesday, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze were still outside the Emirates, extending celebrations that had already run deep into the night. Rice stopped to take photos with fans and later posted “it’s done” on social media, echoing his earlier warning after Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester City last month that “it’s not done.” Saka added his own jab in a celebratory video, saying, “Now we’re holding the bottles.”
The title is Arteta’s second major honour as Arsenal manager and arrives in his seventh year in charge, a timeline that underlines the patience required to rebuild a contender. Arsenal’s first league crown since the Invincibles era also brought former manager Arsène Wenger back into the celebrations, a reminder that the club’s last title under him in 2004 still defines the modern benchmark.
Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith and ex-goalkeeper Paul Robinson both said the triumph showed the value of giving a manager time. Attention now turns to the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain on 30 May, with the Premier League trophy lift set for Selhurst Park on Sunday.
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