Arsenal’s decades-long wait is over.

Mikel Arteta’s team was crowned Premier League champion for the first time since 2004 on Tuesday after Manchester City drew 1-1 with Bournemouth.

“I told you all.. it’s done,” Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice posted on social media with a photo of he and his teammates celebrating.

The result put an end to what might be Pep Guardiola’s final title challenge with City after the decorated manager didn’t dismiss reports he was set to leave the club at the end of the season.

City needed to win at Bournemouth to take it down to the final game of the campaign on Sunday. But the draw left Arsenal with an unassailable four-point lead at the top, ending its 22-year wait for the title.

Arsenal fans celebrated wildly outside its Emirates Stadium, setting off flares and partying in the street. There were celebrations at the club’s training ground, too, where the players had gathered to watch the match.

City threatened another twist in an engrossing title race when Erling Haaland scored in stoppage time to equalize after Junior Kroupi’s first-half strike, but it was too late to find a winner.

Arteta’s players can now stand alongside club icons Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright, who previously led the club to the summit of English soccer. And Arsenal’s current class could yet break new ground by winning the Champions League for the first time in its history later this month.

Thoughts of the May 30 final against defending champion Paris Saint-Germain can be put on the backburner for now.

Now is a time for celebration and relief for Arteta after finishing runner-up in the league three years running.

In back-to-back seasons in 2023 and ’24, he watched as Guardiola’s City chased down Arsenal’s lead to be crowned champion. And another chance was missed last year by finishing second to Liverpool.

Once again Arsenal has led the way for most of this campaign and despite seeing its points advantage ebb away during a gripping run-in, it has finally managed to get over the line.

Arsenal’s last champion was the so-called “Invincibles” team of 2004, which went an entire campaign without losing in the league.

Since then it has seen Chelsea, Manchester United, City, Leicester and Liverpool all take the title. This is the first time since 2017 that a team other than City or Liverpool has not been crowned champion. It is Arsenal’s 14th title and Arteta will hope it is the beginning of a new era of dominance.

He has finally got the better of Guardiola, who he was formerly assistant to at City.

The Spaniard took over at Arsenal in December 2019 — his first role as a manager. After winning the FA Cup in that first season, it has been a frustrating wait for more honors. Even still, he is the second-youngest coach after Jose Mourinho to win the Premier League at the age of 44.

While his team has not maintained the attractive playing style of former manager Arsene Wenger, it has powered its way to the title with the best defense in the league and earned a reputation as a specialist for set-piece goals.

Time will tell if Arteta adopts a more expansive style in the future, more in-keeping with Guardiola’s City.

How City will look going forward is a bigger question, with Enzo Maresco widely considered the front-runner to replace Guardiola.

The future of City’s greatest manager overshadowed the buildup to the game after 10 years at the club.

“I should talk with my chairman first,” Guardiola said. “After that, when I talk with my chairman…. we will decide. We will talk in the next days.”

He was aiming to win the title for the seventh time in England and a second domestic treble after winning the League Cup and FA Cup this term. But Kroupi’s curling shot in the 39th minute left City with a mountain to climb.

Bournemouth wasted further chances to extend its lead, and Haaland ensured a tense finish for Arsenal fans when he leveled in the fifth minute of added time.

Ultimately it wasn’t enough and Guardiola has gone two years without winning a league title for the first time in his coaching career.

Relegation battle

The fight for survival will go down to the final day of the season after Chelsea beat Tottenham 2-1.

Spurs are two points ahead of West Ham, which is in the final relegation spot.

West Ham needs to beat Leeds on Sunday to have any chance of leapfrogging Tottenham and climbing out of the drop zone.

Tottenham hosts Everton and a draw would likely be enough because of superior goal difference. A win would guarantee safety.

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Greater Manchester Police said they were first made aware of the situation at around 4.45am after receiving reports regarding a woman at the top of The Rock car park.

A cordon was set up around the car park, meaning Derby Way was inaccessible for much of the day.

Derby Way cordon (Image: Dan Dougherty)

In a statement earlier in the day, GMP said: “Emergency services are responding to a concern for welfare at The Rock car park.

“We ask that people avoid the area while the incident is being dealt with.”

Several emergency vehicles attended the scene, including police cars, vans, fire engines and an unmarked police vehicle.

The cordon from inside The Rock (Image: Dan Dougherty)

The incident took place on the sixth floor of The Rock car park, which houses vehicles for local residents.

The lowest five floors, which offer parking for shoppers and visitors to The Rock shopping centre, remained open.

Traffic around the incident remained relatively stable, with the main thoroughfare, Rochdale Road, remaining open.

Police negotiators were at the scene to speak with the woman in an attempt to resolve the situation.

GMP later confirmed that the incident concluded at around 5.15pm, when the woman was brought down safely and taken to hospital.

Pep Guardiola conducted his post-match press conference after Manchester City’s Premier League game with Bournemouth

Pep Guardiola said that he will talk with City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in the coming days to decide whether he will see out the final year of his contract. Guardiola is set to leave but insisted that he has not spoken to Al Mubarak about a final decision.

The City boss conducted his post match media duties as normal following Manchester City’s draw with Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium. The Blues trailed at the break when Junior Kroupi curled home for the hosts, who are chasing a place in the Champions League.

Erling Haaland equalised in injury time but City were unable to get the winner that they needed to keep the title race alive. That concluded one of the big stories of the season, but another was Guardiola’s future with the news out on Monday night that the manager will leave at the end of the season.

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He was not asked by Sky Sports before the game but afterwards the City chief was asked to clarify his position. Having told the broadcaster that he still had a year on his contract, he then faced the written media in his press conference.

This is what he had to say as he spoke to reporters after the game in exchanges that were dominated by questions of his future.

You have one more year on your contract but are you able to give us an insight into the future and what your plans are?

“Congratulate Arsenal. Mikel and his backroom staff [have their] hands on the Premier League. Well deserved. At the same time, for my managerial career one of the years where we fought the most, we were incredible with things that we could not control and we never give up. I would have loved to arrive in the last moment to try but today the fatigue was there.

“They had 12 days to prepare that game and played for qualification for the Champions League. An extraordinary team, incredibly well-managed and three days-three days-three days Brentford, Crystal Palace and today we missed it and the impact of fresh players was not good enough from the players who came from the bench.

“We broke the team, the tempo that we have, we want to play a lot of short passes so they don’t make a lot of transitions. It’s so difficult against Bournemouth, that’s why Kova, Bernrado, Rodri and the others came inside to make short passes.

“We played really well but we conceded. We had our chance in the second half with Nico and the linesman made so quick the action for one against one against Erling when he should wait to see if he is offside or onside. He didn’t do it but we fought an incredible lot and we prepare for next season.”

Are you still going to be in charge after Sunday for next season?

“With the club, I always talk but not now. When it was three, four seasons ago, when there was one year left I should talk with my chairman first. When I talk with my chairman, we decide [whether] to have one more year and we talk everything will decide.”

When will you speak with your chairman, after Sunday?

“No, we will talk in the next days. I always said that when you are fighting for the titles, qualification for the Champions League or Premier Leagues or FA Cups and you decide to go, in the first moment there is a problem the players don’t follow you any more. You have to stay there and always when I talk with my chairman and he says what am I going to do, I say let the season go and when it will be over we will talk. But he deserves [to be] the first to talk about what we have to do.”

You’ve seemed very nostalgic these last few months with memories and things you’ll miss about football. Is that the kind of headspace you’ve been in when you’ve been making those decisions and having those thoughts?

“No. It’s been a top year, a good year honestly for many situations, it was tough playing against an excellent team like Arsenal in the finals of the Champions League. I’m fine. Now is a moment with Ferran and especially my chairman to talk and after that we will see what happens.”

You’ve pushed Arsenal to the last week. You’ve won two trophies. It’s a young squad. Do you feel that the future with or without you is very bright.

“I had the feeling that the season, the fact that the perspective is good for many years, 10 years, you have to win every game and every week and every month again. It’s nothing for granted. Next season we will be back – City will be back – and we will try to bring the team in that sense competing until the end in those competitions. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose in the last moment because the opponents are really good, really tough, and this is what we have to try again.”

There have been a lot of new players over the last 18 months. How pleased have you been over the last two months with the level of new players and how they have grown?

“Since January was really good. We had many injuries and many, many things we could not control. I learnt a lot this season about what we have to do to win. We have to make a lot of points, you have to win a good advantage, otherwise there are circumstances you cannot control.

“We played in many moments with difficulties and never give up and that’s why we are here. I would love to arrive until the last moment against Aston Villa at home with a chance but unfortunately we didn’t win because today we missed that pace, that situation that is required to play teams like Bournemouth. Seventeen games unbeaten is because they’re a really good side and in three days the travel to London for Chelsea was not a brilliant final because you need to be fresh in many things and our calendar was really tough in this last part of the season.”

You went to the City fans tonight. They obviously love you and will be going to the game on Sunday wondering if it is the last time. What do you say to them?

“Let me talk with my chairman. I know they love me so much, I love them more. It’s the best place to be. I love that place, I adore it. Let me talk about my club. People say I talk with a million people and I was incredibly focused on my job. We are in the competitions. I was there and this is what I have to do.”

The man sexually abused the young victim over four years

A paedophile who sexually touched a girl for four years has been jailed. Arsenad Guraj, 37, began touching the victim inappropriately in Peterborough between March 2019 and July 2023.

The girl told her family after realising she had been sexually assaulted from posters and assemblies at school. Cambridgeshire Police were told and arrested Guraj in April 2024.

During interview, Guraj, of Lincoln Road in Peterborough, denied sexually assaulting the victim. However, on May 12 at Huntingdon Law Courts, he was jailed for five years after being found guilty of two counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching and engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 15.

He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life and handed a restraining order for 12 years and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order. In a personal statement, the victim said Guraj’s offending had led her to a loss of friends, isolation and self-harm, ruining her school life and education.

Detective Sergeant Lauren Kirkup, who investigated, said: “Guraj’s prolonged sexual abuse has had a deep impact on the victim, and I would like to praise her for her bravery in coming forward and supporting us with a prosecution.

“Guraj denied all charges against him, which had the added unpleasantness for the victim and her family of having to sit through a trial, so it’s great he’s been brought to justice.”

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