Captain Martin Ødegaard lifts the Premier League trophy
NOTE: Although this entry is from after 2022, I have backdated all entries from after that year to the corresponding date in 2022.
May 19, 2026: Manchester City Football Club get a goal in stoppage time to forge a 1-1 draw with AFC Bournemouth, at Dean Court in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. But they can't quite find a goal in what little time remains to win the game. And so, they get one point for the draw, instead of the three points they would have gotten for a win.
As a result, even if they win their last game of the season, home to Birmingham team Aston Villa 5 days later, they will have a maximum of 81 points on the season. And Arsenal Football Club, of North London, had already accumulated 82 points, including 3 in a 1-0 home win over Lancashire team Burnley the day before.
Therefore, at 11:25 AM -- 4:25 PM, U.S. Eastern Time -- Arsenal became Champions of the Premier League, for the 1st time in 22 years, since the "Invincibles" season of 2003-04.
As it turned out, Man City lost their finale to Villa, anyway, 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester; while Arsenal went to Selhurst Park in South London, beat Crystal Palace, 2-1, and were presented with the Premier League trophy.
Arsène Wenger had managed Arsenal to the Premier League title in 1998, 2002 and 2004. He had led them to the FA Cup in 1998 (making for a "Double"), 2002 (another Double), 2003 and 2005. He got them to the UEFA Champions League Final in 2006.
But the Arsenal Stadium, known as Highbury for its North London neighborhood, seated just 38,000. A new stadium was needed, and the 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium opened a few blocks away in 2006. Although it provided much more matchday revenue, it was needed not just to pay off the stadium debt over a period of years, but also to buy the contracts of players needed just to keep pace with big-spending teams like Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool F.C., and West London team Chelsea F.C.
Arsenal won the FA Cup under Wenger in 2014, 2015 and 2017. They reached the Final of the Champions League in 2006; the Semifinals in 2009; and the Quarterfinals in 2008 and '11. They reached the Final of the League Cup in 2007 and 2011.
But while their places in the Premier League kept them qualifying for the Champions League, they couldn't win the League title. They finished 2nd in 2016; 3rd in 2008, '10, '12, '15; 4th in 2006, '07, '09, '11, '13, '14; 5th in 2017, and 6th in 2018. And some of the big-salaried players that Wenger had brought in decided to hand in transfer requests, demanding to be sold to teams with better chances of winning trophies, abandoning the man who had given them the chances to become the great players they became.
A small but loud minority of fans demanded that Wenger be fired, and replaced by a manager who would outspend the biggest spenders, instead of paying off the stadium debt -- which the team was legally obligated to do. Finally, in 2018, team owner Stan Kroenke, an American who also owned the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, MLS' Colorado Rapids, and has since bought MLB's Los Angeles Angels, fired Wenger, ending his tenure after 22 years, though allowing him a dignified pregame ceremony before his last home game.
Unai Emery, who had won trophies in his native Spain and France, was hired. He got Arsenal 5th in 2019, and to the Final of UEFA's secondary tournament, the Europa League, which he'd won 3 times before, and has since won twice more. But it was an awful performance in the Final, and the final piece of his alienation of several of Arsenal's good players.
He was fired midway through the 2019-20 season, and replaced by Mikel Arteta, assistant to Josep "Pep" Guardiola at Manchester City, and a former midfielder at Arsenal under Wenger. Whereas Emery had taken the team that Wenger built and flopped, Arteta took the team that Emery built and won the 2020 FA Cup. But the damage was done: That season, and in 2021, Arsenal finished 8th.
Arteta had 3 major advantages: The fans knew him, they knew he wasn't Emery, and the stadium debt was mostly paid off. So big signings could be made. In 2022, Arsenal finished 5th. In 2023, '24 and '25, they finished 2nd each time, finishing, respectively, 5 points behind City, 2 points behind City, and 10 points behind Liverpool. And he got them to the Quarterfinal of the Champions League in 2024, and the Semifinal in 2025.
Mikel Arteta with the 2020 FA Cup
In 2025-26, Arsenal were ready. The usual starting line up was Spanish goalkeeper David Raya, English right back Ben White, French centreback William Saliba, Brazilian centreback Gabriel Magalhães (in Brazilian football tradition, usually known by just his first name), Italian left back Riccardo Calafiori, Norwegian central midfielder and team Captain Martin Ødegaard, English central midfielder Declan Rice, English right wing Bukayo Saka, Brazilian left wing Gabriel Martinelli, and German centre forward Kai Havertz.
Notable other contributors included Dutch right back Jurriën Timber, Spanish defender Cristhian Mosquera, English left back Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ecuadorian left back Piero Hincapié, Spanish central midfielders Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi, English right wing Noni Madueke, Brazilian left wing Leandro Trossard, English forward Eberechi Eze, Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus, and Swedish forward Viktor Gyökeres.
For the first time since the early Wenger years, Arsenal seemed to have at least two world-class players at every position. (Though that couldn't really be said about Raya's backup and fellow Spaniard, Kepa Arrizabalaga.) So that, when the annual injury crisis came -- and injuries did keep Ødegaard, Saka, Saliba, Timber, White, Jesus and Havertz out for long stretches -- Arsenal were able to weather it this time, and stay at or near the top of the PL table.
In their 1st 14 League games, Arsenal won 10, drew 3, and lost only a 1-0 decision away to Liverpool. This included a 1-1 draw at home to Man City, where Martinelli scored in stoppage time to save them; goals by Merino in the 84th minute and Gabriel in the 96th to come from behind away to Newcastle United; and a 4-1 demolition of North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at home, in which Eze became only the 3rd Arsenal player, after Ted Drake in 1934 and Alan Sunderland in 1978, to score 3 goals in a game against "Spurs."
Defending Champions Liverpool were never a factor, and ended up 5th, behind Arsenal, Man City, Man United and Aston Villa. On March 14, Arsenal led City by 9 points with 7 games to play, though City had a game in hand. Indeed, on the morning of March 22, Arsenal were still eligible for all 4 trophies they were playing for: The Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the Champions League.
But that day, they lost the League Cup Final to City, 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in West London. Then, on April 4, they were knocked out of the FA Cup in the Quarterfinal by Southampton, 2-1 away. Then came back-to-back defeats, 2-1 at home to Bournemouth on April 11, and, in what was being viewed all over the world as the title decider, 2-1 away to City on April 19. Now, Arsenal led by 3 points, with 5 to play, and City could match them with their game in hand. Arsenal no longer controlled their own destiny.
But City faltered. Though they did beat Chelsea to win the FA Cup, and followed their PL win over Arsenal with a 1-0 win away to Burnley on April 22, their trip to Liverpool to play Everton on May 4 ended in a 3-3 draw. Now, once again, it was Arsenal who, if they won all their remaining games, would win the title. City beat Brentford on May 9 and Crystal Palace on May 13, both 3-0 at home. But without wins away to Bournemouth on May 19 and home to Villa on May 24, Arsenal would win. And City could only draw 1-1 with Bournemouth, and lost 2-1 to Villa.
And Arsenal rebounded from the seemingly demoralizing loss to City to win their last 5: 1-0 at home to Newcastle on April 25; 3-0 at home to Fulham on May 2; Trossard's 83rd-minute strike beating West Ham United of East London, 1-0 away on May 10; Havertz scoring in the 37th on May 18 to beat Burnley at home, 1-0; then, with the title won the next day without taking the pitch, 2-1 away to Palace on May 24.
The celebrations began in North London right after the final whistle in Bournemouth on May 19, and kept going until May 30, when Arsenal played the Champions League Final in Budapest, Hungary. They took an early lead, but lost to the defending Champions, Paris Saint-Germain, on penalty kicks. It was a bitter season finale.
But by the next morning, any considerations that going 1-for-4, losing the CL Final, or winning only the PL title were a "failure" were tossed aside. The celebratory parade through Islington that day was the biggest parade in the history of London club sports. Not since the England team won the 1966 World Cup had there been a bigger one.
Arsenal truly are London's team. Liverpool and Manchester United may have 20 League titles (old league and new league combined), while Arsenal have 14; but, as built by Wenger and now by Arteta, Arsenal are a team for a multicultural city, a team for the whole world. From Mayfair, Mumbai and Melbourne to Manhattan, Montreal and Mombassa, The Arsenal are a team for the whole world.
*
May 19, 2026 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. Will Warren outpitched Dylan Cease. Ryan McMahon and Ben Rice hit home runs. Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals, 9-6 at Nationals Park in Washington. Foster Griffin outpitched Nolan McLean. James Wood went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Bo Bichette went 2-for-4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins, 8-4 at LoanDepot Park in Miami.
* The Cleveland Guardians beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Houston Astros beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Iván Herrera hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Colorado Rockies, 10-0 at Coors Field in Denver. Tyler Alexander pitched just 1 inning for the Rangers, then Kumar Rocker pitched the next 7, and got the win.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at Petco Park in San Diego.
* The Sacramento Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels, 14-6 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were in progress, but no games were played. One game was played in the NBA Playoffs: The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-104 at Madison Square Garden, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavaliers led by 22 points in the 4th quarter, but the Knicks went 30-8 to force overtime, and outscored the Cavs 14-3 in that overtime period. Jalen Brunson scored 38 points.
