Arsenal win first Premier League title in 22 years

Arsenal were crowned Premier League champions for the first time since 2004 on Wednesday morning (AEST) after Manchester City drew 1-1 with Bournemouth.

The result put an end to City’s title challenge with one round of the season go.

Pep Guardiola’s team needed to win at the Vitality Stadium to take it down to the final game of the campaign on Sunday. But the draw left Arsenal with an unassailable four-point lead at the top, ending their 22-year wait for the title.

Arsenal fans celebrated wildly outside their Emirates Stadium.

City threatened another twist when Erling Haaland scored in stoppage time to equalise Junior Kroupi’s first-half strike, but it was too late to find a winner.

Mikel Arteta’s players can now stand alongside club icons Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright, who previously led the club to the summit of English soccer.

And Arsenal’s current class could yet break new ground by winning the Champions League for the first time in their history later this month.

Thoughts of this month’s final against defending champion Paris Saint-Germain can be put on the backburner for now.

Now is a time for celebration and relief for Arteta after finishing runners-up in the league three years running.

In back-to-back seasons in 2023 and ’24, he watched as Guardiola’s City chased down Arsenal’s lead to be crowned champions. And another chance was missed last year when coming second to Liverpool.

Once again Arsenal have led the way for most of this campaign and despite seeing their points advantage ebb away during a gripping run-in, they have finally managed to get over the line after a decades-long wait.

Arsenal’s last champions were the so-called “Invincibles” of 2004, who went an entire campaign without losing in the league.

Since then, they have seen Chelsea, Manchester United, City, Leicester and Liverpool all take the title. This is the first time since 2017 that a team other than City or Liverpool has not been crowned champion. It is Arsenal’s 14th title.

Build-up to the game was overshadowed by reports Guardiola would leave at the end of the season after 10 years at the club.

He was aiming to win the title for the seventh title in England and a second domestic treble after winning the League Cup and FA Cup this term.

But Kroupi’s curling shot in the 39th minute left City with a mountain to climb.

Bournemouth wasted further chances to extend their lead, and Haaland ensured a tense finish for Arsenal fans when he levelled in the fifth minute of added time.

“The players gave everything, absolutely all of the season fighting through difficult, difficult, difficult circumstances until the end,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.

“We were close to arrive in the last moment but on behalf of all Manchester City and my team, we congratulate Arsenal and Mikel for this Premier League. They deserve it.”

Guardiola’s men were playing their third game in six days, and coming off a heady FA Cup win over Chelsea on Saturday, the manager said it showed.

“A tough game – we knew it,” he said. “[Bournemouth] have 12 days to prepare, to play with energy. The players up front have this energy that they had, [while we played] three days, three days, three days.

“We fought, first half was really good. Second half, we started really good ... at the end, we find a goal but too late.”

Meanwhile, the fight between West Ham and Tottenham to avoid relegation from the Premier League is headed to the final round.

Tottenham’s 2-1 loss at Chelsea on Tuesday kept alive West Ham’s hopes of retaining their 14-year top-flight status.

With one game remaining, West Ham are in third-last place – the final relegation spot – and two points behind Tottenham. They are the only teams who can go down with already relegated Wolverhampton and Burnley.

On Sunday, West Ham are at home to Leeds and Tottenham host Everton.

Tottenham have a superior goal difference of 12 compared to West Ham so are highly likely to remain higher if they finish level on points, and it comes to that tie-breaker.

Tottenham have been an ever-present in the Premier League since the competition was founded in 1992 and last played in the second tier in the 1977-78 season.

Spygate expulsion: Southampton expelled from play-offs

Southampton were expelled from the Championship play-offs on Tuesday after admitting to repeatedly spying on opponents.

The English Football League reinstated Middlesbrough to play in the Wembley final – the richest game in soccer – against Hull City on Saturday. The winner gets promoted to the Premier League.

Southampton were charged earlier this month for the unauthorised filming of Middlesbrough’s practice sessions ahead of their semi-final. They went on to win the two-legged tie to go within one game of promotion to the top flight.

The league said the south coast club had subsequently admitted further breaches this season concerning games against Oxford United and Ipswich. They were also deducted four points for next season.

“Southampton has a right to appeal the commission’s decision in accordance with EFL regulations and the parties are working to try and resolve any appeal on Wednesday 20 May. Subject to the outcome, it could result in a further change to Saturday’s fixture,” the league said.

The league said Southampton admitted breaches requiring clubs to act with the “utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match”.

It said the final was still due to go ahead as planned, despite disruption caused by Middlesbrough’s late reinstatement.

The play-off final is labelled the world’s richest one-off soccer match because a windfall of at least $US270 million ($380 million) in future earnings is on offer for the winning team.

Promotion to the top flight of English soccer – the world’s wealthiest and most-watched league – brings with it access to its multibillion-dollar global broadcast deals as well as sold-out stadiums for games against the biggest teams in the world like Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.

AP, Reuters

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