Arsenal crowned Premier League champions for first time in 22 years – live reaction
Key events
John Brewin was at the Vitality to see a game that Manchester City never really looked like winning, until a frantic 90-second spell in stoppage time.
Paul MacInnes
A mass celebration is underway outside the Emirates Stadium as delirious Arsenal fans celebrate their first league title in 22 years. Young and old, male and female, people of all shapes and colours are spilling from the pubs on to the local streets, thronging around the concourse, singing and somehow trying to make sense of what has just occurred.
Arsenal’s Instagram admin marks their historic moment …
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Arsenal’s 14th title cements their third place in English football’s roll of honour:
20 Liverpool, Manchester United
14 Arsenal
10 Manchester City
9 Everton
7 Aston Villa
6 Chelsea, Sunderland
4 Newcastle, Sheffield Wednesday
3 Blackburn, Huddersfield, Leeds, Wolves
2 Burnley, Derby, Portsmouth, Preston, Tottenham
1 Ipswich, Leicester, Nottm Forest, Sheffield United, West Brom
And in the Premier League era, this is how things stand:
13 Manchester United
8 Manchester City
5 Chelsea
4 Arsenal
2 Liverpool
1 Blackburn, Leicester
Here’s more on how Arsenal sealed Premier League glory tonight.
Preamble
On 26 April 2004, Arsenal secured the English title – their 13th in total –with a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane, with four games still to play and an unbeaten league season to complete. Few of the delirious fans in attendance that day would have believed another 22 years would pass before their team would win it again, and take their tally to 14.
White Hart Lane has been bulldozed and rebuilt while Highbury is now a block of flats, with the Emirates Stadium overseeing a painful period of decline under Arsène Wenger, before Unai Emery’s brief tenure. Mikel Arteta, an Arsenal player from 2011 to 2016, took charge in 2019 and has made the team title contenders again.
In the last six seasons, Arteta has led Arsenal to finish eighth, fifth, second, second, second … and now first. Gooners around the globe, rejoice. The day is finally here – Arsenal are champions of England again.
