Arsenal win Premier League title for first time in 22 years after Manchester City draw to Bournemouth

AFC BournemouthArsenalAston VillaBrentfordBrighton & Hove AlbionBurnleyChelseaCrystal PalaceEvertonFulhamLeeds UnitedLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedNottingham ForestSunderlandTottenham HotspurWest Ham UnitedWolverhampton WanderersScores & ScheduleStandingsFantasyThe Athletic FC NewsletterPodcastsBournemouth vs. Man CityChelsea vs. TottenhamPL Title Race Kai Havertz's goal against Burnley on Monday put Arsenal within touching distance of the title Julian Finney/Getty Images Share article1Arsenal have won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years following Manchester City’s 1-1 draw away to Bournemouth. Any dropped points from Manchester City on the south coast would have confirmed Mikel Arteta’s side as champions after their 1-0 win over Burnley on Monday, May 18. That win took Arsenal to 82 points, but after Tuesday’s result, the highest tally City can reach is now 81. Bar a few days in April when they lost 2-1 away to Manchester City, Arsenal have led the Premier League table since October. They have won 25 of their 37 league matches, drawing seven and losing five. After that defeat at the Etihad Stadium, which put City three points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, Arteta stated: “It’s a new league now. They have a game in hand. We have three points of advantage and five games to play, so everything is still to play for. So we know how much we want it and we’re not going to stop and we’re going to go again, that’s for sure.” Arsenal won all of their next four league games without conceding a goal (with three of these matches ending 1-0), while City’s 3-3 draw away to Everton earlier this month was a major blow for their title hopes. Pep Guardiola is now set to leave Manchester City at the end of the season, but leaves without having won the Premier League in each of the last two seasons as Liverpool were crowned champions in the 2024-25 campaign. Arteta, meanwhile, is waiting until the full conclusion to negotiate a new contract with Arsenal even if early talks between his representatives and Arsenal have begun (his current deal expires in 2027). Aged 44 years and 54 days old, the Spaniard becomes the third-youngest manager to lift the Premier League after Jose Mourinho, who is the youngest and second-youngest having won the league aged 42 and 43 for Chelsea in 2005 and 2006 respectively. This comes off the back of six-and-a-half years of work from when Arteta first took charge of Arsenal in December 2019. Initially named head coach before a title-change to manager in August 2020, this is still his first job as a senior manager. Arsenal can make their season even better as they still have a Champions League final to play on May 30. Paris Saint-Germain being their opponents also provides a chance of revenge after the French side eliminated them in last season’s semi-finals. This moment may stand as one of the biggest collective sighs of relief in Arsenal’s history. To win the Premier League is one thing, but to do it after the journey this club has been on is something else entirely. Twenty-two years may seem like a long enough wait, but three successive second-place finishes has only heightened the expectation, intensity and stress of an entire football club. They were the surprise package in the 2022-23 season, but have shown consistency in each year since then. They have ended 557 days top of the league across the last four seasons (at least 200 more than any other club), and have earned the joint-most points than any other Premier League club in that time (329, the same as City). That has deserved tangible recognition, and to finally have that will mean everything to Arteta, his players, staff and Arsenal supporters worldwide. It is important to note that Arteta and Arsenal have had to constantly evolve to finally get over the line. Earlier this month, he cited “resilience” and “adaptability” as key getting over the line, and for all involved to be rewarded for those qualities at long last will earn them special places in the history books of Arsenal. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms