Arsenal won the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years, and Mikel Arteta says he could feel it at two separate moments. The first came in pre-season, the week before Manchester United. The second came after the defeat at Manchester City. Declan Rice has since offered a different marker, saying a player-only meeting after Wolves, before Spurs, was the season's most important conversation.

Why Arteta points to pre-season and Manchester City

Arteta's first moment was not some post-match surge of optimism. He said it came when he got the players together in pre-season and asked them what they were happy to do for the team. That is a fairly clear sign he was looking at buy-in, not just form. The second moment came after losing at Manchester City, when he said he thought, "we are going to win it".

The league table backs up why he might have felt that way. Arsenal finished first with 82 points from 37 matches, with a 25-7-5 record and a +43 goal difference. That is not the profile of a side hanging on late. It is a title run built across the season, and Arteta's timeline fits that.

Rice's version of the season's turning point

Rice's view is more specific to the dressing room. "After Wolves was one of them, going into the Spurs game. That was the most crucial one," he said. "We said, if we're going to win, let's enjoy winning. Let's not just feel pressure all the time."

That matters because it suggests the key shift was not only tactical or statistical, but psychological. Rice is describing a group that stopped carrying the season like a burden and started treating it like something they could control. He has also been a reliable part of the side, with a 7.46 Premier League rating.

The story does not need a single decisive scene to make sense. Arteta had two moments that told him the title was coming. Rice has pointed to one meeting that helped the squad play with more freedom. Both accounts fit a side that finished top and won five league games in a row.

Arsenal now move on to the Champions League final against Paris Saint Germain in Budapest on Saturday, with Arteta already saying the club must use that "incredible energy" in the final.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 8 outlets. How we work →