It was when Junior Kroupi bent a beautiful finish around Gianluigi Donnarumma six minutes before half-time that we knew that this was probably to be the night when English football witnessed a changing of the guard.
As time ticked away, Pep Guardiola, taking charge of his last away game, stood on the touchline in front of the Manchester City dugout. A late Erling Haaland equaliser was not enough. Guardiola had no choice but to accept that the title had slipped away from his side, who are four points adrift of the leaders, with one game to play.
And so, for the first time in 22 years, for the first time since Arsenal were Invincibles, for the first time since Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp ruled English football, the Gunners are the champions of England again.
In the moment of their triumph, it was clear that Arsenal had won the battle with City but most of all they had won the battle with themselves. That is the story of this season. Arsenal had won the battle against self-doubt. They had won the battle against their inbuilt impostor syndrome.
They had beaten the characterisation of them as weak and ineffectual, an image that has stuck to them since the declining years of Arsene Wenger’s management. They had beaten the idea that, as former Watford striker Troy Deeney, once alleged, they lacked ‘cojones’.
Not anymore. That has gone. That has been swept away. Arsenal have finally conquered those demons and now that they have, now that they know how to win, there is an expectation that they can go on to dominate the English game.
Pep Guardiola saw the Premier League title slip away as Man City drew with Bournemouth
Junior Kroupi’s goal proved crucial as Arsenal were crowned champions for the first time in 22 years
Man City were unable to take the title race to the final day in Guardiola’s final season in charge
City will have to adapt to the loss of Guardiola, Liverpool are facing a year of recovery, with or without Arne Slot, Chelsea are too far back even though they have recruited Xabi Alonso and it feels as though Manchester United are at least one more year away from being serious challengers.
On the south coast, the night felt like a collision of emotions. ‘One more year, one more year, Guardiola,’ the City fans grouped in the far corner of the Vitality Stadium, pleaded with their manager but the game against Aston Villa at the Etihad on Sunday will be his last in charge of the team he has led to 17 major trophies in his time in this country.
In his stead, his friend and his one-time apprentice, Mikel Arteta, will assume the mantle of the leading manager in this country. Arteta is much-maligned by those outside the club but he has done an outstanding job marshalling his team to a point where they have won the title with a game to spare.
For all the talk of poor quality and over-reliance on set-plays and dismay at the continuing impenetrability of the handball law, Arsenal’s increasingly desperate attempt to hold off City has been one of the most enthralling storylines of recent seasons.
After three successive second-place finishes, Arsenal have spent most of the season trying to outrun the taunts of opposition fans who have taken great delight in maintaining the inevitability of the fact that Arsenal were going to ‘bottle it’.
That narrative, that desire for Arsenal to fail, no matter who won it in their stead, grew and grew in the strength as the season wore on. Call it schadenfreude or blame it on dislike of Arteta’s touchline antics but most neutrals wanted to City to win.
But this time, Arsenal would not yield. So this was a title victory and it was a group of players that has redefined their own characters. Nobody can call them bottlers or chokers any more. When they going got tough, they stood up. When the going got tough, City blinked first.
And this is not an ordinary Arsenal side. This is a brilliant team. This is a team anchored by a miserly defence that conjures memories of the old Arsenal back four, a defence dominated by William Saliba and Gabriel.
The Man City boss was left frustrated as his side attempted to fight back into the match
Haaland equalised in the closing second of the match, but Man City ran out of time
This is a team with a superb goalkeeper, with a dream of a winger in Bukayo Saka and the best central midfielder in the country in Declan Rice. And this is a manager, and a club, that has built a formidable squad that was capable of weathering the storm when City whittled down the nine-point lead they held at the start of February to nothing.
City were marvellous to watch in patches but they were never quite the side that managed to put together a relentless run of victories when they were engaged in those Herculean battles with Liverpool a few years ago. It will fall, it is said, to Enzo Maresca to try to restore City to that level next season.
And so, Guardiola, who has made his home in English football for ten years and embraced its grounds and its culture, sat on the Manchester City coach as it drove slowly down an avenue of pines and past the faded white beauty of the Kings Park cricket pavilion.
As he disembarked outside the main entrance of the bijou Vitality Stadium on the south coast, with its low-slung stands and its tight pitch and its fine team that was still aiming for a place in the Champions League, seagulls wheeled and cawed overhead. Guardiola had picked the perfect place for his last road trip.
‘Don’t ask me what you know is true,’ by INXS played over the loud speaker system as Guardiola walked to the dug-outs and wrapped Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola in a cursory bear hug. ‘One more year, one more year, Guardiola,’ the City fans on the far side of the ground sang.
Guardiola stayed in the dug-out for the first few minutes, as if it might give him some shelter from the lenses trained on him. City started brilliantly. Antoine Semenyo wriggled past two defenders in the box and pulled the ball back for Jeremy Doku, whose low shot was saved. Guardiola appeared on the touchline, arms behind his back, hands clenched together.
Semenyo had the ball in the net after 12 minutes, after a through-ball from Erling Haaland, but Semenyo had strayed offside. A couple of minutes later, Bournemouth built a brilliant move but Evanilson did not react quickly enough to a driven cross and contrived to lift it over the bar with the goal gaping.
Haaland had a close-range shot blocked, Guardiola retreated into the dug-out to discuss something with his assistant Pep Lijnders. ‘One more year, one more year, Guardiola,’ the City fans sang again. Guardiola was too wrapped up in the match to hear.
Six minutes before half-time, Bournemouth took the lead. It was a brilliant move that stretched from one end to the other. Adrien Truffert was set free down the left and cut the ball back for Junior Kroupi on the edge of the area. Kroupi took a touch and then curled the ball around Abdukodir Khusanov and way out of the reach of Donnarumma.
Man City fans were begging for Guardiola to stay but an era is set to close this weekend
City came close to an equaliser a minute after half-time when Haaland played in Nico O’Reilly with a perfectly-weighted pass. O’Reilly took a touch and then drilled a low shot in on goal. Djordje Petrovic reacted superbly and got down to push it away with his right hand.
Guardiola reacted furiously when a linesman flagged early as Haaland sprinted through. It was a marginal call and Guardiola felt, strongly, that play should have been allowed to continue. In the end, he had to be shepherded away by Lijnders.
Bournemouth nearly doubled their lead. Another flowing move ended with Evanilson backheeling the ball into the path of Kroupi, who fired just over from 20 yards. A couple of minutes later, Rayan hooked a shot against the post from close range.
The title was slipping away from Guardiola and City. The City fan who had made headlines some weeks ago by drinking from a bottle with Arsenal colours on it, sat disconsolately in the stand. In the dying minutes, Bournemouth almost made it two when substitute David Brooks curled a shot against the post. Haaland equalised four minutes into added time but it was too late to get the second they need to prolong the title race.
Bournemouth are three points adrift of Liverpool, in fifth place, with one game to play. They have had a wonderful season and they will play European football for the first time in their history next season. But as Guardiola prepares to say goodbye, this was Arsenal’s night.
