After 22 long years of waiting, Arsenal Football Club has done it. They can call themselves the champions of England after more than two decades of heartbreaks, agony and near misses to finally get over the line in the 2025-26 season. The Premier League trophy is coming to North London with the coronation set after the final game against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on the final day of the season. The Gunners clinched their much wanted silverware with a game to spare after they secured victory against Burnley in their final home game of the season and Manchester City dropped points in their game against Bournemouth making their four point lead at the top unreachable. The side can celebrate at last with a season where they hold dominance for most parts but a few unwanted results put City into contention yet it looked like their destiny and they clinched it this time.
Arsenal earned a bad reputation of choking at the end in the last few years. It was disappointing because the North Londoners were having their best period since the dominating eras of Arsene Wenger after club legend Mikel Arteta took the managerial job back in December 2019. After turning the club into title contenders again as the Spaniard's revolutionary changes to the culture of the club started to show its results from the 2022-23 season, the side only managed to finish second in three consecutive seasons. But they weren't resisted for long as they finally got their prize this time. Despite having a wobble in April where they lost to Bournemouth and challengers Manchester City in back-to-back Premier League games allowing the latter to displace the top of the table with things pointing to another late season collapse, they managed to keep their nerves in the remaining four games of the season. They won every single game with a clean sheet, showing their change of mentality and determination to make it count this time.
Under the master plan of manager Arteta, the Gunners did not just win the league. They broke records, maintained an amazing defense and changed how teams score goals. This is the story of how Arsenal won their 14th league title and set new records that will last for a very long time.
Eight Decades of Winning
Arsenal is now part of an elite club in English football. Only Liverpool and Manchester United have won more top-flight titles than Arsenal's 14 trophies. However, Arteta's side has a special record that no one else can match. The Gunners have now won a league title in eight different decades. They won in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and now the 2020s. This shows that Arsenal is not just a passing trend, they are a timeless giant of the game.
Ending the 22-Year Wait
The year 2004 was the last time Arsenal fans tasted a league title. That was the famous 'Invincibles' season under Arsene Wenger. Since then, the fans have suffered through many hard years and close calls. This 22-year gap was the longest time Arsenal ever went without a league trophy since they won their very first one in 1931. By finally lifting the trophy on the final day, Mikel Arteta and his players have lifted a massive weight off the shoulders of the entire club. The modern curse is finally broken.
Kings of the Dead-Ball
The major factor for the side's success this season was them becoming set-piece kings. They turned corners and free-kicks into a cheat code. Arsenal mastered the art of scoring from such situations that became a nightmare to defend against because they became the most dangerous team in the world whenever the ball stopped moving. It meant that even when teams defended well in open play, Arsenal could always find a way to score from a whistle. The side was able to score from dead-balls like this in 19 different Premier League matches this year. That is a brand-new record for a 38-game season.
It's a corner for Arsenal
Whenever commentators say those words after Arsenal win a corner it's an edge of the seat moment for the fans and the most troubling time for the opposition as they know what is coming. Out of their 68 league goals, Arsenal scored 28 of them from set-pieces. That is nearly half of all their goals! They scored three more goals this way than any other team in the division. The majority of them were scored straight from corners with 18 goals this year. This broke a 33-year-old Premier League record. The old record was 16 goals, set by Oldham Athletic all the way back in the 1992-93 season. Arsenal's tall players and smart routines made them impossible to stop in the penalty box.
Total Domination at the Top
In the past, Arsenal was criticized for letting leads slip away. This year, they stayed in first place for almost the entire race. They did not look back or show any fear. Arsenal spent a massive 238 days at the top of the league this season. To show how crazy that is, they led the league for 204 more days than Liverpool. They also led for 229 more days than Manchester City even. Over the last four seasons combined, Arsenal has spent 562 games at the peak of the table. This year, they finally got the trophy they earned.
The Great Wall of London
Arsenal's defense was like a brick wall this year. Mikel Arteta built a team that hates letting the opponent score. They shut down the best strikers in the world with ease. It is reflected in their incredible shutout records with 32 clean sheets in all competitions this season. That is six more shutouts than any other team in England, Spain, Italy, Germany, or France. They were officially the hardest team to score against in all of Europe.
The 1-0 Masters
Arsenal won eight different league games by a score of 1-0, the biggest by any side this season, showing the professionalism manner they approached games. They did not played the most entertaining football but effective one with the results mattering at the end. Their excellent defence meant that even if the opposition slipped in even a one goal, the game was done as it was very hard to break them down.
Shutting out opposition
Arsenal only allowed 26 goals in the league all year. This is the second-fewest goals they have ever given up in a Premier League year, right behind their 1998-99 team. Even more amazing, they only allowed 8.2 shots per game and a tiny 2.4 shots on target per game. Both of those numbers were the best in Europe.
Running them down
Arsenal did not just play smart, they outworked everybody. They ran harder and further than their rivals every single week.Arsenal ran more distance than their opponents in 35 out of their 37 league games. They did this while also holding 56.1% of the ball on average. Usually, teams that keep the ball do not have to run as much. Arsenal did both. They kept the ball and still ran, covering so much distance on the pitch.
Mastermind
All these would have not been possible if Arsenal didn't have a demanding manager by their side who truly inherited the club ethos within himself. Strikingly, he did at the age of just 44 years and 54 days old, making him the second-youngest manager to ever win the Premier League. Only José Mourinho was younger when he won it with Chelsea. With Pep Guardiola leaving Manchester City, Arteta is also now the longest-serving manager left in the Premier League. He has been at Arsenal for six years, and it is scary what more he can win in years to come.
Heroes on the Pitch
While, this title was the cumulation of the total team effort, a few key players stood out and put their names in the history books. Without them, Arsenal would have left behind in another race for the Premier League glory.
David Raya
The goalkeeper kept 19 clean sheets in the league. This tied the legendary David Seaman for the most clean sheets in a single Arsenal season. David Raya also won the Golden Glove award for the third year in a row. Only four keepers have ever done that.
Viktor Gyökeres
The summer signing was a huge hit. He scored 21 goals in all competitions, with 14 in the league. He is the first player to score 20+ goals in his first year at Arsenal since Alexis Sánchez in 2014.
William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes
These two center-backs started 26 league games together and won 17 of them. They kept 15 clean sheets when playing together. That means they kept a shutout every 1.7 games, a stunning record.
Declan Rice
Rice was the engine room for the team He played 4,336 minutes across all games, which was more than any other player on the team. Without him, the team has not looked the same.
