With Manchester City’s 1-1 tie with AFC Bournemouth, Arsenal have officially been crowned the champions of the Premier League! Even if they were to lose to Crystal Palace on the final matchday, it would still mean Arsenal are champions, as they have more than 3 points than city do. This is the first time they have won since the 2003/2004 season. In this article, I will be going over what led to this victory.
Arsenal’s first game of the season was away at Manchester United at Old Trafford, where we won 1-0 due to a Calafiori header. In this game, we saw the debuts of new arrivals: Viktor Gyökeres, Noni Madueke, and Martin Zubimendi. Others would make their debuts later on in the season. Two games later, we got our first loss of the season to former holders, Liverpool. We would play pretty well in the league until December 6th, where we recorded our 2nd loss of the season in a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa. We would continue to have great form until we got our third loss of the season to Manchester United at home 3-2. This was the first time we conceded more than two goals in a match since we played Luton Town on December 5th in the 2023/2024 season. Along the way so far, despite a few defeats, we have been recording a lot of draws which have been hindering our total points count, and these were draws against teams we should’ve beat. These include Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, Chelsea, and Manchester City and Liverpool however those teams weren’t exactly easy as the others were. Our fourth loss would come to a surprising team: AFC Bournemouth. Between the loss against Manchester and this game, we continued to tie easy-to-beat teams, including a 1-1 draw at Brentford and a 2-2 draw against Wolves. This is when we realized that if we want to win, change needs to happen soon. However, despite this, our next loss happened in the next game against title contenders, Manchester City. In that game the stakes were high. If Arsenal won they would be highly likely to win the league, if they tied it would be less so in Arsenal’s favor, and if Manchester City won they’d be likely to win the league, or so everyone thought. In the 16th minute, new signing Rayan Cherki dribbled past the defense and slotted one past David Raya, making the score 1-0. However, literally two minutes later in the 18th minute, Kai Havertz will capitalize on a Gianluigi Donnarumma mistake and tie the score at 1-1. The game we appear to be anyone’s game, that was until the 65th minute, when Manchester City superstar, Erling Haaland, would find the back of the net and ultimately win the game for Manchester City. After this match, Manchester City and Arsenal were now level on points, but Manchester was leading to having scored more goals. Arsenal morale was low, but Declan Rice lifted everyone back up, reminding there is still so much to play for and that it is far from over. This was shown in the next game, where we’d end our losing streak after a 1-0 win at home to Newcastle after a stunning Eze goal. Manchester City would win their next game at Burnley 1-0, however they registered 8 shots. This being said, had Arsenal won on purely goals scored, Burnley goalkeeper Martin Dubravka would be to thank after his heroics in net to significantly prevent Manchester City’s goals scored count from rising. Arsenal would win their next game against Fulham 3-0, thanks to goals from Saka and Gyökeres. We were up 3 or 4 on the goal differential, however Manchester City had a game in hand, so as long as they didn’t score 3 or 4 goals in their next two games, we were fine. However, everything went Arsenal’s way in Manchester City’s next game against Everton. In the 43rd minute, Jeremy Doku would find the back of the net after a stunner. Later on, in the 68th minute, a bad pass from Manchester City Centreback, Marc Guehi, would lead to a Theirno Barry goal. The score is now tied 1-1. 5 minutes later in a corner, Everton right back, Jake O’Brien, would score from a header, making it 2-1. At this point, all Arsenal fans are going crazy. To almost put the icing on the cake, Thierno Barry would score again making it 3-1. However, Erling Haaland would find the back of the net and make it 2-0. Minutes later, after a lot of fighting, at the 90 ‘+7 minute, Jeremy Doku would have another beautiful goal, resulting in a 3-3 tie. Despite Everton not winning, this was crucial for Arsenal, as now they didn’t need to score more goals, but rather win all of their remaining games as they were now up by 2 points in the league table. Arsenal would win their next two games and so would City, until City tied Bournemouth 1-1. After a beautiful Eli Junior Kroupi goal, Bournemouth were leading 1-0. Only in the dying minutes did Erling Haaland equalize for City, but at this point, it was too late; Arsenal were champions of England for the first time in 22 years. Fans were celebrating like crazy and videos began circulating of the Arsenal squad celebrating this huge milestone. As a fan of 3 and a half years, this was a pretty memorable day for me.
With one game left to play, I see Arteta playing a lot of subs against Crystal Palace in order to rest our starters for our UCL final clash against PSG. I’d like to see a lineup of Kepa Arrizabalaga or Tommy Setford in net, the defense (L-R) should be Hincapie, Mosquera, Marli Salmon (young academy player needing minutes), and Jurrien Timber (although a starter, he is injured and needs to acclimate himself back into a competitive environment because we will need him against PSG). The midfield three should be Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, and Kai Havertz. The front three should be Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, and Max Dowman. This game should be treated as a “celebratory” match of sorts following our huge accomplishment.
