Arsenal players in dawn celebrations after winning Premier League
Thousands of Arsenal fans gathered outside Emirates Stadium to celebrate their first Premier League title for 22 years (Brook Mitchell) Arsenal players were pictured celebrating with fans at 5:00 am at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday after they clinched the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years. Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber were pictured in the early hours in an Instagram post by their teammate Eberechi Eze. Thousands of fans had gathered outside the stadium while Manchester City, needing a win to keep the title race alive, played at Bournemouth.
The crowd grew as Bournemouth took the lead and although City equalised in injury time, the draw meant the title was heading to North London. Some supporters marked the occasion by lighting fireworks and flares. The players held a party at their London Colney training ground with coach Mikel Arteta and then took the celebrations to the Emirates Stadium.
Many of the players said the title win was especially sweet as they had finished runners-up for the past three seasons. Saka said Arsenal's critics were "not laughing at us anymore". "Let me tell you something.
Twenty-two years, 22 years. there was laughing, there was joking, they're not laughing anymore," the England international added. In another video posted by Saka, 19-year-old defender Myles Lewis-Skelly is brandishing a champagne bottle.
"They called us bottlers," said Lewis-Skelly, who has come through the club's academy. "And now we're holding the bottle. " Arsenal fans thronged around the stadium, hanging out of car windows and waving flags.