Online Reporter
ARSENAL have been crowned Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years.
The Gunners secured the title on Tuesday night after Manchester City slumped to a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.
Pep Guardiola’s men were stunned by a beautiful curling effort from Eli Junior Kroupi midway through the first half, leaving them unable to make up the necessary ground to catch their rivals.
Mikel Arteta gathered his side to watch the mammoth fixture at the club’s Colney training ground, where the scenes tonight will surely be raucous.
The Spaniard’s squad have won the Prem with a game to spare and will lift the trophy when they travel to Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Arsenal will then parade it around North London on Sunday, May 31 – and they will hope to do so with the Champions League trophy, too.
The Gunners are taking on Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final the day before their scheduled parade.
The club have never been crowned kings of Europe and last appeared in the final 20 years ago, when Barcelona beat them.
But now winning the Prem could become the first part of what would be a historic Double for Arsenal. Arteta and his players will be delighted to have got over the line in the league after finishing second in each of the previous three seasons.
The Gunners led the way for much of this term and bookmakers Paddy Power even paid out on them becoming champions in February.
That was when Arsenal were nine points clear of Man City, but Pep Guardiola’s side reeled them in to set up a nervy finish.
City beat the Gunners at the Etihad on April 19 and went top three days later with a win at Burnley.
Arsenal, however, fought back and since losing to City they have won four Prem games on the spin without conceding. City drew at Everton earlier this month to hand Arteta’s side control of the title race and they have taken advantage.
The win over Burnley on Monday night put Arteta’s side on the brink.
And the final nail in City’s coffin came at Bournemouth on Tuesday night, when they slumped to a damning draw at the Vitality – meaning they cannot catch the Gunners on the final day.
A beauty of an effort left City reeling, who were already shellshocked from the news that Guardiola was set to depart at the end of the season.
The Spanish tactician made a series of attacking substitutions in an attempt to unlock the cherries defence, but his side’s attempts were consistently rebuffed by the European hopefuls.
Erling Haaland fired home in the dying moments of the match, but it was nothing more than a consolation. Arsenal fans let loose after full time, flocking to the Emirates to celebrate in a mix of joy and sheer relief after a relentless title challenge. – Sun
