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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, who was supposed to watch the game with the players, reveals that he couldn’t bring himself to watch City’s game against Bournemouth.
Mikel Arteta (X)
Arsenal have finally ended their 22-year wait for a Premier League title after Man City’s 1-1 draw at Southampton left the Gunners mathematically out of reach of their closest rivals.
Manager Mikel Arteta has become the second youngest coach ever to lift the Premier League trophy, doing so at 44 years and 54 days. Only Jose Mourinho was younger, winning the title at 42 years and 94 days.
Joyous celebrations erupted as the Arsenal squad, gathered around a television to watch City’s trip to Bournemouth, realised they had at last been confirmed as champions of England’s top flight.
Arteta, who was supposed to watch the game with the players, reveals that he couldn’t bring himself to watch City’s game against Bournemouth.
“I was supposed to be here at London Colney watching the game with the boys and certain staff, but I couldn’t do it.”
“Before the game, I had to leave. I couldn’t bring the energy that I wanted.”
“I went home, I went into the garden, I built a fire on my own. I didn’t watch it.
“My son opens the door, started to cry and said: ‘we’re champions daddy.”
The Gunners have amassed 82 points from 37 matches and sit five points clear of City, with just one fixture remaining in the season.
After finishing runners-up in each of the previous three campaigns, Arsenal have finally gone one better. Arteta’s side have edged out a relentless Man City team coached by his former mentor, Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola also announced he would depart the club after nine seasons at the helm of the Manchester side. He had hoped to take the title race to the final day, as he has so often managed in past pursuits of league leaders, but his farewell lost its edge when City failed to beat Bournemouth in their penultimate match of the season.
This triumph ends Arsenal’s wait for a league crown since 2004, when Arsene Wenger secured the golden Premier League trophy by guiding his team through an unbeaten campaign. It is fitting that Arteta, the man who has now fulfilled this long-cherished ambition for the Gunners, spent the most significant spell of his playing career under the charismatic Frenchman.
Arsenal will receive the traditional guard of honour for champions on the final day of the season, on 24 May at Selhurst Park, where Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace will salute the new winners of the world’s most followed league competition.
London, United Kingdom (UK)
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