It is done. After 22 years of near-misses, heartbreaks and agonising late collapses, Arsenal are Premier League champions. Manchester City's 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Tuesday evening handed Mikel Arteta's side an unassailable lead at the top of the table with one game remaining. The title — the club's 14th top-flight crown and fourth in the Premier League era — returns to north London for the first time since the Invincibles won it in 2003-04.

No single performance explains a title. What earns a championship is accumulated across 37 grinding, unforgiving matchdays. So let the numbers do the talking.

A Fortress Built at the Back

The bedrock of this title is defensive. Arsenal have conceded just 26 league goals this season — at least six fewer than any other side in the division. It is the second-lowest total in the club's entire Premier League history, bettered only by the 17 shipped during the 1998-99 campaign. In the run-in, after a 2-1 defeat at Manchester City a month ago, they have reeled off four consecutive wins without letting in a single goal.

The underlying numbers are equally striking. Arsenal have allowed chances worth just 0.74 expected goals per game — the fourth-best figure recorded in any Premier League season since Opta began tracking advanced expected-goals data in 2012-13. Across Europe's top five leagues this season, no side has conceded fewer shots per game (8.2) or fewer shots on target per game (2.4).

Saliba and Gabriel: The Best Partnership in England

At the centre of that defensive record stand William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães. The two centre-backs have started 26 league games together this term, with Arsenal winning 17 of them — a joint-division-high alongside Liverpool's Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk, despite the Merseyside pair starting together considerably more often. Among all centre-back pairings to have started more than five times this season, Saliba and Gabriel boast comfortably the best clean-sheet rate: 15 shutouts in 26 appearances, one every 1.7 games.

Raya Closing In on a Record

David Raya has been every bit as important. The Spanish goalkeeper's clean sheet against Burnley on Monday moved him to 19 shutouts for the season, drawing level with David Seaman's Arsenal records from 1993-94 and 1998-99. Should Raya keep another one on the final day against Crystal Palace, he will hold the outright club record alone.

He has also claimed a third consecutive Golden Glove — only the fourth goalkeeper in Premier League history to win the award three seasons in a row, after Pepe Reina, Joe Hart and Ederson. One more would equal the all-time record of four, jointly held by Petr Cech and Hart.

The Set-Piece Machine

If the defence has been the shield, set pieces have been the sword. Arsenal have scored 28 of their 68 league goals from dead-ball situations — three more than any other club. Their corner-kick record is particularly remarkable: 18 goals from corners in 2025-26 is a new Premier League all-time high, surpassing Oldham Athletic's 16 from the very first top-flight season back in 1992-93. The record has been broken twice this campaign — Arsenal hold it outright, with Tottenham scoring 17 from corners in the same season.

Critics have long argued that Arsenal's reliance on set pieces makes them formulaic. There is something in that. But elite sides exploit every marginal gain available. Arsenal have simply become the best in the business at it.

A City Finally Exhales

Twenty-two years is a long time. Fans who were young children when Patrick Vieira lifted the trophy in Cardiff are now approaching their thirties. The noises out of the Emirates as City dropped points on the south coast were those of a fanbase finally, completely exhaling.

Arteta has built something cohesive, something resilient, something capable of sustaining a title challenge across a full season rather than fading in the spring. Whether the Invincibles benchmark ever gets revisited is a conversation for another day. For now, Arsenal are champions of England. The numbers say they deserve to be.

FAQs

Frequently asked

When did Arsenal last win the Premier League?
Arsenal's previous Premier League title came in the 2003-04 season, when they went the entire campaign unbeaten — a side famously known as the Invincibles. This 2025-26 title ends a 22-year wait.
How many Premier League titles have Arsenal won?
This is Arsenal's fourth Premier League title and their 14th top-flight championship overall, placing them among the most decorated clubs in English football history.
Who won the Golden Glove this season?
David Raya claimed the Golden Glove for the third consecutive season, becoming only the fourth goalkeeper ever to win it in three successive years. He needs one more to equal the all-time record of four, held jointly by Petr Cech and Joe Hart.