Manchester City drew 1-1 with Bournemouth, ending Arsenal’s 22-year wait for the Premier League title.
Published May 19, 2026
Manchester City’s failure to beat Bournemouth ensured Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time since 2004.
City need to win their remaining two games and Arsenal were unable to win their final match, which ended in a 1-1 draw on Tuesday.
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The draw gave Arsenal a four-point lead at the top of the table, ending their 22-year wait for the title and ending manager Josep Guardiola’s title challenge after the first round of the season.
As news of the scoreline broke, Arsenal fans celebrated wildly outside the Emirates Stadium.
Erling Haaland equalized in stoppage time from Junior Crupi, putting City on the brink of another comeback, but it was too late to find the winning goal.
Mikel Arteta’s players will rub shoulders with club icons Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright, who once led the club to the pinnacle of English football. And Arsenal’s current class could break new ground by winning their first-ever Champions League later this month.
Thoughts about this month’s final against defending champions Paris Saint-Germain can be put on the back burner for now.
It’s a time of celebration and relief for Arteta, who finished runners-up in the league for the third year in a row.
In back-to-back seasons in 2023 and 2024, he watched Guardiola’s City chase down Arsenal’s lead and become champions. Last year, they lost to Liverpool in second place and missed another chance.
Once again, Arsenal have been at the top of the table for much of this season, and despite watching their points advantage dwindle as they struggle to catch up, they have finally managed to cross the line after a decades-long wait.
Arsenal’s last champions were the so-called “Invincibles” team in 2004, which went an entire season without losing a league game.
