It was a warm enough day in London for the Premier League to sanction a mid-half drinks break. Arsenal ’s glum-faced players might as well have had a pint. If they did not know by the time they took a thirst-quencher, they soon found out.
Inside 20 minutes, Phil Foden , it seemed, had reduced a final day title tussle to a formality and everyone inside the Emirates Stadium knew it. Or assumed it. And when Idrissa Gueye’s free-kick was pretty much headed into his own net by Declan Rice - technically, it goes down as a deflection - it was met with a collective shrug of resignation.
Watch the climax of the Premier League title race and Champions League with TNT Sports Rio Ferdinand's response to Bukayo Saka absence said it all before Arsenal title decider But you can add one more attribute to the list of qualities this Arsenal team possesses. Defiance. Defiance that surfaced through Takehiro Tomiyasu’s well-taken equaliser and grew when news of the Mohammed Kudus worldie in Manchester filtered through.
Defiance that came from the stands, albeit falsely flamed by fake news of a West Ham equaliser before the break at the Etihad. Defiance that roared theatrically when Kai Havertz knocked in a late winner. This was Arsenal’s 28th Premier League win of the season and that is some record.
And this victory came against a very disciplined, very well-organised, very robust Everton team, whose finish to the campaign offers some promise for next season, assuming there are no more po.
