Sports

Arsenal Are Premier League Champions for the First Time in 22 Years

By Curtis Jones · May 20, 2026

Three times in the last three years, Arsenal led the Premier League into the final stretch and lost it. 2022-23: a five-point lead, collapsed in April, Guardiola’s City won it. 2023-24: led by two points with weeks to go, lost by two points. 2024-25: Liverpool held them off from the front. Fourth time — they held on.

Manchester City’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Tuesday night clinched the title for Arsenal, who had already beaten Burnley 1-0 on Monday. The Gunners could no longer be caught. After an 8,060-day wait, Arsenal are Premier League champions for the first time since Arsène Wenger’s Invincibles went the entire 2003-04 season unbeaten.

Mikel Arteta becomes the first former Premier League player to win the title as a manager, having played for Arsenal between 2011 and 2016. He took charge in December 2019 and watched his team get close three times before finally getting over the line.

The way Arsenal won it reflected Arteta’s design. Goalkeeper David Raya claimed the Golden Glove for the third consecutive season, Arsenal kept 19 clean sheets, and the team’s defensive record was the best in the league. At the front, the goals were distributed across the squad — Viktor Gyokeres led the scoring, but Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice, and Mikel Merino all contributed regularly. Nobody could be silenced by neutralizing one player.

The moment the title was confirmed, crowds gathered outside the Emirates Stadium. Ian Wright, the Arsenal legend who played under Wenger’s early years, was photographed in the streets celebrating. Former players and fans who had watched three near-misses in as many years wept openly on cameras across London.

The title is Arsenal’s 14th in the top flight of English football. The last was 22 years ago. The club that won the most trophies in the decade after 2004 — five FA Cups, six Community Shields — could not win the one that defined English football supremacy. Until now.

And now there’s more. On May 30, 11 days from now, Arsenal face holders Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League final in Budapest — a chance to win the European title the club has never won in its 139-year history. No English team has won the domestic league and the Champions League in the same season since Manchester United in 1999. Arsenal have not won the European Cup in any season, ever.

The Premier League trophy they will lift Sunday at Selhurst Park, in Arsenal’s final regular season match at Crystal Palace, is the one they had been waiting for. Budapest would be the one they have never had.