Saka Calls out Critics as Gunners Celebrate First Premier League Title in 22 Years

Arsenalplayers were pictured outside Emirates Stadium at 05:00 BST after they were crowned Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years, as their celebrations continued.

Eberechi Eze posted pictures on Instagram in the early hours of Wednesday, stood outside their stadium in north London alongside team-mates Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber.

Dutch defender Timber posted a video alongside Saka stood by a blacked out Premier League trophy at the club’s training ground that was designed to light up once the team won.

“Light that up,” Saka says.

“Let me tell you something. Twenty-two years, 22 years. There was laughing, there was joking, they’re not laughing any more. Look, it is going to be shining, it is going to be shining bright.”

In another video posted by Saka, 19-year-old defender Myles Lewis-Skelly is seen holding a champagne bottle.

“They called us bottlers,” said academy graduate Lewis-Skelly. “And now we’re holding the bottle.”

Eze’s Instagram post also included a picture of an Arsenal-branded bottle in another reference to criticism the team has received for finishing second in the league for three consecutive seasons.

An Instagram story post also showed captain Martin Odegaard with a bottle in his mouth.

Arsenal‘s record goalscorer Thierry Henry wrote on Instagram: “Special thanks to this generation – finally now my kids saw us winning the league”.

The club will hold a trophy parade around Islington on Sunday, 31 May at 14:00 BST, the day after they face holders Paris St-Germain in the Champions League final in Budapest.

On Tuesday night, fans gathered outside the stadium and nearby pubs while rivals Manchester Cityplayed Bournemouth, needing a win to keep the title race alive.

In the end, Pep Guardiola’s side could only draw – confirming Arsenalas champions for the first time in 22 years.

As the full-time whistle went on the south coast, there was an explosion of cheer in pubs across north London as Arsenalfans celebrated a moment they felt, after recent title near misses, might never come.

Arsenallegend Ian Wright, who scored 185 times for the club and won the title in 1998, was mobbed by fans as he celebrated outside the Emirates.

There were celebrations also at the Gunners’ training ground.