'The first in my lifetime' - Arsenal fans rejoice after shedding 'bottlers' tag

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• Published20 May 2026, 17:49 BST

Arsenal supporters flooded the streets of north London after the club ended a 22-year wait for the Premier League title.

Wild scenes took place outside Emirates Stadium - following Manchester City's 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Tuesday night - as fans toasted the much-awaited triumph.

Three consecutive second-placed finishes contributed to a nervy title run-in - but the outpouring of emotion at making it fourth time lucky made for spectacular scenes.

And because of the length of time that had passed since the Gunners last lifted the title, it meant many fans had never seen them win England's top prize.

'Life has peaked'

Club legend and fan Ian Wright, who helped start the party outside the Emirates on Tuesday night, was 40 when Arsenal last won the league, but for some supporters it was a new experience.

"It doesn't get much better than this," 22-year-old Dylan White said. "...first time in 22 years, more or less the first time in my life. When we last lifted the Premier League, I was about three weeks old.

"It's surreal - I've never experienced this before and now we're finally here over the line, after so many years of coming so close and to celebrate with all of our friends.

"I've always wanted to experience it for myself because you hear stories of Arsenal back in '89, you hear stories of the Invincibles, but getting to experience it ourselves... it's been mental.

"We were wondering if it'd be better to celebrate it at an actual game, but doing it with all of our mates in north London last night and being outside of the ground until 4am - as you can tell, I've lost my voice.

"It feels like life has peaked as an Arsenal fan."

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It could still get a lot better for Arsenal fans when the Gunners take on Paris St-Germain in the final of the Champions League - their first for 20 years - in Budapest on Saturday, 30 May.

"It could be a mega few weeks," Dylan added.

"The best is still yet to come with the Champions League. People are really about to see, if they haven't already, how big Arsenal Football Club are. It's just long overdue. I'm glad it's silenced a lot of the critics."

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Updates from 35,000 feet

As the end of the City game approached, anticipation built for Arsenal fans - but things were even more tense 35,000 feet up in the air.

One fan, Aamir, was in the dark about the score - because he was on a flight with no option of WiFi or phone signal.

When the game finished, he was on board easyJet flight EZY8746 from Hurghada in Egypt, still more than an hour from touchdown at London Gatwick, so he asked the cabin crew if they could get him the score.

"They came through," he wrote in a post on X, external viewed 1.7m times, accompanied with a picture of a typewritten message on a slip of paper beamed to the plane from easyJet's operations control centre on the ground. Aamir has now framed that piece of paper.

EasyJet confirmed to BBC Sport that the pilot of the plane "teamed up with colleagues in our operations control centre to relay the score this fan was hoping for".

For another fan, Jamie Ryan, it wasn't such a nervous wait. He touched down on a Ryanair plane at London Stansted minutes before the final whistle - so he got to celebrate right away.

"Ryanair didn't even acknowledge Arsenal on the Tannoy and they're the greatest football team ever," the 21-year-old joked to BBC Sport.

Fans keep flocking to north London

Following Tuesday night's celebrations, supporters continue to flock to the stadium to buy next season's kit with "champions" written on the back.

And for Dominic, who was alive to see Arsenal's previous three Premier League victories, it was nice to have the familiar feeling of success back.

"This is how we're used to feeling," he said. "Used to being the winners, back on the podiums where we belong.

"I was a lot younger back then. Primary school probably? It was a long time ago.

"We've been waiting patiently and obviously we've got it at the end. And I think this is the start of a very new generation.

"Big Gabi, [William] Saliba, there's a lot of years left in this team. Trust me, we're going to be winning for a long time coming."

But even though Arsenal are a club with a rich history, Dominic is still shocked it took them 22 years to win the league again.

"When we had Santi Cazorla and [Olivier] Giroud, I thought we were still going to be winning championships back then, but we were very unlucky."

"Little things don't go your way sometimes, especially with the big money that was coming in from the other side. But now Pep [Guardiola] is off, Mikel [Arteta] is in, light work," he added in reference to reports the City boss is set to leave at the end of the season.

'The season of media as well as football'

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Arsenal have one of the loudest supporter fanbases on social media, which can lead to intense scrutiny from rival fans when things do not go their way.

A Manchester City supporter recently went viral as he celebrated a victory with an Arsenal water bottle, a nod to Arteta's side 'bottling' the title after three successive second-placed finishes.

After the Gunners lost at Etihad Stadium in April, City supporters unveiled a banner that said "Panic on the streets of London" - but Arsenal fans have used all of that to fuel their celebrations.

"I went to the stadium and I have to say it still feels a little bit surreal, even having been there in all the celebrations last night. I know the Arsenal squad were there too," fan Scarlet Katz Roberts said.

"I'm not sure it will feel real until Martin Odegaard lifts that trophy over his head and it even feels weird to say that.

"So I would say there is an overwhelming sense of relief, but also like a slightly weird void of like, 'wow, what do I do now? I don't have to worry about that any more'."

The Gunners will hold a title parade on Sunday, 31 May regardless of the outcome of the Champions League final.

At 27 years old, this is the first title success Scarlet can remember. She was five when she went to the parade to celebrate the Arsenal 'Invincibles' in 2004.

She added: "I have no sense of what's normal for a title celebration, what's proportional. All I can say is that, you know, it was such a lovely atmosphere in that crowd last night.

"I think we've been waiting a long time - particularly given the kind of circumstances of this season, and the way that I feel like it's been the season of media as much as it's been the season of football.

"It's been almost as important what people have been saying about Arsenal as it is what they've actually been doing - or it's felt that way in the fanbase.

"We have been mocked, we have been criticised throughout and it only relented at the point when we proverbially lifted the trophy."

Related topics

• Football
• Arsenal
• Premier League

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