The Morning Arsenal Won the League
May 20, 2026. I had not slept very well that night and woke up a little after three. Then I saw the news on my phone: Manchester City had lost. At first I thought I was dreaming, because I had just dreamed about a strange match in which Arsenal lost to Nottingham Forest. Slowly, I realized this was real. After all these years, Arsenal had finally won the Premier League again. It was the first time I had seen them win it since I started following the club. I was overwhelmed with joy, shouting and throwing my arms into the air. I got straight out of bed, turned on the television, watched fellow supporters sharing the moment, and kept scrolling through Twitter. Then the official celebration video appeared. Its very first shot was of Arsène Wenger. I burst into tears. I remembered the frustration and helplessness of his departure, the heavy defeats and the ridicule he endured. I could not stop crying.
The first Arsenal match I remember watching was that 5–2 comeback against Tottenham, around the time Arteta arrived at the club. It was a warm afternoon, sunlight falling on the green pitch, and everything felt beautiful. That was how my connection with Arsenal began, like the opening of a love story in a film, full of possibility. I was still at university. Only later did I learn that the season had begun with that 8–2 defeat.
Over the years, I watched Wenger's beautiful football. I watched his thousandth game. I doubted whether he could ever lead us to another Premier League title. And I watched him leave.
Over the years, I watched an FA Cup final in a bar with other Arsenal fans and saw Cazorla score that free kick. But there were so many other moments, too…
Over the years, I saw endless mockery, the jokes about fighting for fourth, and learned to laugh at ourselves.
Over the years, I watched so many defeats that I learned how to deal with the pain, how to make it pass a little faster. A busy life leaves less and less room to sit with it.
And then the title finally came. After three second-place finishes, it did not arrive entirely out of nowhere. Those years only made the feeling stronger, because it had been so hard to get here.
COYG!