Arsenal were confirmed champions on Tuesday night as Manchester City drew 1-1 at Bournemouth, with Junior Kroupi's 39th-minute curling strike forcing City to chase a game they ultimately could not win despite Erling Haaland's stoppage-time equaliser. The result left Arsenal four points clear with one game remaining — mathematically untouchable.
Arteta, 44, took charge of a club in crisis in December 2019, having never managed a senior team. He has not finished in a lower league position than the previous season in any of his six-and-a-half years in charge, guiding Arsenal from eighth to fifth to fourth to second — three times — before finally claiming first place.
The title is Arsenal's 14th league championship overall and their first since the side widely regarded as the greatest in the club's history completed an unbeaten season 22 years ago.
In winning it at 44 years and 54 days old, Arteta becomes the second youngest manager to win the Premier League, behind only José Mourinho who was 42 years and 94 days when he claimed the first of his two English titles with Chelsea in 2005.
He is also only the second person to have played in the Premier League and gone on to win it as a manager, following Roberto Mancini who played for Leicester City and later guided Manchester City to the title. He also joins Pep Guardiola as the only other Spanish manager to have won English football's top division.
What makes the achievement more distinctive is the lineage Arteta continues. The last manager to win the English league title in his first managerial job was Kenny Dalglish. The Gunners bosses who preceded Arteta in that distinction — Bertie Mee, Tom Whittaker, George Allison and Joe Shaw — form a line of club history that Arteta now joins permanently.
His win percentage stands at 60.4 per cent across 351 matches — the highest of any Arsenal manager in the club's recorded history, ahead of Arsène Wenger at 57.2 per cent.
Arteta spoke after the confirmation: "We made history again together. I cannot be happier and prouder for everybody that is involved in this football club. Let's enjoy the moment."
The club now turn their attention to the Champions League final in Budapest on May 30, where Arsenal face Paris Saint-Germain. No Arsenal manager has ever led the club to the European Cup. Arteta has the chance to do something his predecessors — including Wenger — never did.