Declan Rice celebrates outside Emirates at 5am. (Image: Reddit)
Arsenal’s stars celebrated into the early hours of the morning at their Premier League victory party, with Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and a host of team-mates turning up at Emirates Stadium at 5am. The Gunners clinched their first league title in 22 years after Manchester City drew 1-1 with Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
The team initially met at the training ground, with players, Mikel Arteta and staff watching the City game together. Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Burnley on Monday meant Josep Guardiola’s side needed all three points on the south coast to advance to the final day of the title race, but they fell short.
Celebrations began in Colney and thousands of supporters made their way to the Emirates, where they were joined by club legend Ian Wright. Rice gave a glimpse of the celebration, posting a photo with his teammates on Instagram and captioning it, “I told you guys…it’s over,” along with trophy and love heart emojis.
Meanwhile, Saka and Miles Lewis-Skelly hit out at critics who suggested Arsenal would “bottleneck” the title. “They called us bottlers and now we have the bottle,” Louis Skelly said, clutching a bottle of champagne.
Saka replied, “I’m holding a bottle right now. That’s right!”
Express sports on FB! Get all the best sports news and more on our Facebook page
Last month, after Arsenal lost 2-1 at home to Bournemouth, a City supporter brandished a water bottle with the Arsenal logo on it and pretended to drink water, an apparent rant that implied the Gunners would “lose” the title race.
The footage racked up more than 700,000 views on X within 60 minutes, intensifying the pressure on Arsenal’s Championship challenge.
Several team members were then captured on video arriving at Emirates Stadium in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
One fan filmed Julian Timber, Saka, Rice, Eberechi Eze and others walking outside the ground. “Don’t play with them, dude,” said the fan.
Bukayo Saka also took part in the stadium festivities. (Image: Reddit)
Eberechi Eze has silenced Arsenal’s critics. (Image: Instagram)
“That’s the champion now, we’re living with the champion now.”
Eze also posted a significant photo outside the Emirates with his finger on his lips, an unmistakable “silence” directed at his critics.
World Cup Legends: The stars of soccer’s biggest tournament in history – buy the special edition now
Guardiola, who has given up on the title challenge, congratulated his former assistant Arteta. “Congratulations to Mikel and Arsenal. They were phenomenal,” he said.
“We were close. On behalf of all of Manchester City, I would like to congratulate Mikel and all the staff, players and fans on winning the Premier League. They deserve it.”
It has been an emotional week for Guardiola, with the City boss preparing to leave the Etihad after 10 years in charge after Sunday’s final home game against Aston Villa.
Arsenal are ready to lift the Premier League trophy this Sunday as they travel the short distance to Selhurst Park for their final match against Crystal Palace.
