How Mikel Arteta delivered on his Arsenal promise as title win releases decades of tension | OneFootball

Arsenal took a huge gamble on Mikel Arteta in 2019, one that has paid off with the Premier League title win

"I will burn every drop of blood for this football club to make it better," the Spaniard vowed.

The progress was at first gradual, focused on culture as much as results. The foundations were set for what was to follow.

Now, finally, confirmation that Arteta has made Arsenal not just better, but the best. Better than they have been for 22 years. The club's longest wait for a league title since the Second World War is over.

I will burn every drop of blood for this football club to make it better

Mikel Arteta, in 2019

With a Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain still to come, there is every chance this finishes as Arsenal's greatest ever season.

Whatever happens in Budapest on May 30, there will be a trophy parade through the streets of north London the very next day. Judging by the scenes outside the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night, that will be an extraordinary occasion.

It will be an outpouring of relief. Weeks, months, years, decades of pent-up tension finally released. For all those inside the club and the supporters watching on, it has been utterly draining.

Of Arsenal's 25 league wins this season, 13 have been by a one-goal margin. Eight have been 1-0.

The nerve-shredding matches did not become a consistent theme until December. Earlier in the season, Arsenal won eight matches in a row in all competitions without conceding.

Then came the 2-1 win over Wolves. Arsenal conceded an equaliser in the 90th minute but snatched victory in stoppage-time.

There was huge frustration among the players at how Wolves were let back into the match. Declan Rice was particularly vocal in the dressing room, angrily addressing his team-mates.

What would become the pattern of the season was becoming established. Arsenal then had to ride out a nervy final 20 minutes to edge past Brighton having failed to kill the match.

Asked if that was sustainable, expending so much emotional energy on a regular basis, Arteta replied: "Yes. From my side, yes." That has been tested in the extreme since. Ultimately, he was right.

Arsenal have had issues killing off games all season

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The first big reset of the season came after defeat to Manchester United in January. A run of three matches without a win had cut Arsenal's lead at the top to four points.

Arteta watched the game back in full twice and then called a team meeting. There was a focus on perspective and what was still to achieve, rather than the recent wobble. A 14-match unbeaten run followed.

It was around this time that Josh Kroenke visited the training ground, once the LA Rams' Super Bowl hopes were ended. He had lunch with Arteta, who he has a good relationship with. Kroenke has often been a supportive presence during tough runs and has become increasingly involved.

He is known to message players after mistakes or when they have suffered injuries. Kroenke shared a big hug with Ben White on the pitch after the win over Burnley on Monday night.

After that United defeat, Arteta was publicly defiant. "Jump in this boat because it’s going to be fun," Arteta told the Arsenal fans. "A lot of incredible things are going to emerge - some of the things that we cannot even imagine."

That boat became a persistent theme. Before the Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid, a Spanish Armada-inspired tifo was unveiled.

The January window ended with no business done. Arsenal spent big last summer with the intention of ensuring this was not another season derailed by injuries.

When Mikel Merino, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard were all absent - after Ethan Nwaneri had been let out on loan - the quiet window threatened to backfire.

Questions over the club's mentality also returned after a February draw with Wolves that left Arteta furious. The squad held what was said to be a "heated" team meeting in the days that followed.

The sense from some inside the club was also that the bigger picture pointed to a unique situation. It was felt Arsenal were conceding goals that were almost exclusively from individual errors or wonder strikes from the opposition.

Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Wolves was another moment to reset

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The hope was that would pass and calm would be restored. Instead, the fun boat faced its rockiest conditions yet.

The push for four trophies was halved in double quick time, Arsenal losing the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City and then exiting the FA Cup at the hands of Southampton.

When Premier League defeats to Bournemouth and City then followed, it was clear something had to change.

For once, Arteta dialled down the intensity. His press conferences in that run of one win in six matches had become too much.

He demanded that supporters "bring your lunch, bring your dinner" for the Bournemouth match. Three days later, before the quarter-final first leg against Sporting, Arteta was "on fire".

Since then his messages have become more low-key, Arteta letting the situation of the season speak for itself.

After the defeat to City, Arteta also gave his players two days off. He wanted the squad to have the chance to breathe and then hammered home the message he had alluded to in the dressing room at the Etihad. This was now a new league. Five matches left to achieve their dreams.

Arteta spoke of the positivity that had come from the performance against City and that was not just a public soundbite. There genuinely was renewed belief in the camp and a buy-in to the idea of a fresh start. Losing the points advantage at the top in a strange way brought a sense of freedom that had been lacking for months.

When Premier League defeats to Bournemouth and City then followed, it was clear something had to change

Since then, Arsenal have won all four league matches without conceding a goal. They have secured the title and reached a Champions League final.

As with all successful seasons, there have been key cornerstone results along the way. The win away at Brighton felt huge, coupled with the news filtering through that City had drawn with Nottingham Forest. For the first time, the Arsenal supporters chanted: "We're gonna win the league".

Loud music was soon being blasted out from the Under-18 visitors' dressing room at the Amex Stadium. Max Dowman and Marli Salmon, unable to change with the first-team due to their age, were having a party of their own.

That result was surpassed by the win over Everton in March. Dowman made history as the youngest-ever scorer in the Premier League.

Arsenal were keen to protect the 16-year-old, waving away his understandable willingness to discuss his heroics in a post-match interview.

However, with Arsenal not winning the title while on the pitch, it might well be the West Ham match that goes down as the defining afternoon. The Gunners were a VAR call in stoppage-time away from surrendering control of the title race.

That victory set up the crowning moment. As Bournemouth picked up a draw to end City's race, the Arsenal squad erupted in celebration having gathered to watch together at the training ground.

The Arsenal squad were together for the moment the Premier League title was clinched

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Waving a bottle of champagne, Myles Lewis-Skelly told Bukayo Saka: “They called us bottlers - now we’re holding a bottle!”

Piero Hincapie pretended to drink from an Arsenal-branded water bottle in a pointed message to the City fan who went viral for mocking the Gunners. Rice hoisted Andrea Berta into the air and the sporting director crowd-surfed around the players.

Rice also took to Instagram. After the defeat at the Etihad, the camera panned to the midfielder. "It's not done", was his declaration to Martin Odegaard.

Minutes after the title was secured and Arsenal's 22 years of pain had come to an end, Rice had one final message.