Twenty-two years. That is how long we waited, and it ended on a scorching Sunday afternoon at Selhurst Park with Jesus and Madueke doing the job either side of half-time and Martin Odegaard holding the Premier League trophy above his head in front of every Arsenal supporter who had made the trip to south London. Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal, the final day of the 2025-26 season, 85 points, seven clear of Manchester City, and the 14th league title in the history of this football club.

The cost of this particular afternoon was close to nothing, which is exactly what Arteta needed with Budapest five days away. Nine changes from the Burnley side kept every key body safe. Madueke took a knock late on but walked off under his own power and was seen celebrating without any visible discomfort. The league is done, the squad is intact, and the record reads: played 38, won 26, drawn 7, lost 5, 71 scored, 26 conceded, plus 45 goal difference.

Arteta made nine changes and still named a team that made sense. Kepa Arrizabalaga started in goal for his first league appearance of the season, which meant he walked away from Selhurst Park with a Premier League medal. Cristhian Mosquera and Christian Norgaard formed a centre-back partnership that has never started a league match together. Martin Zubimendi played at right-back, a position he occupied once during pre-season and never since. Max Dowman, at 16 years and 144 days, became the youngest player ever to start a Premier League match, breaking a record that has stood since the competition began. He is still sitting his GCSEs. He changes in a separate dressing room from the senior players because Premier League regulations require it for under-18s. Arteta started him on the final day of a title-winning season because he has earned every minute of a breakthrough campaign that has already produced the youngest Champions League appearance, the youngest Premier League goal, and now the youngest Premier League start in history.

The broader logic behind the rotation was straightforward enough. Mosquera needed minutes against Premier League opposition ahead of a likely start in Budapest. Zubimendi at right-back was a direct rehearsal for Saturday, because with Ben White out for the season and Timber still short of fitness, the Champions League final against PSG may require exactly that shape. Saka, Rice, Saliba, Gabriel, Raya, Odegaard and Gyokeres all started on the bench. Every selection had a reason beyond rest, and every reason pointed toward the Puskas Arena.

Jesus should have scored twice before he did. In the sixth minute, Hincapie's clearance was mis-controlled by Jefferson Lerma, and Jesus collected, drove forward, and curled a shot against the post. Madueke reached the rebound but could not beat Henderson. Six minutes later, Madueke threaded Jesus through one-on-one, and Henderson spread himself to make the save. Kepa, at the other end, pushed away a Munoz header that was destined for the bottom corner. We were comfortable without being clinical, and the longer it stayed goalless the more it felt like Selhurst Park was waiting for the match to finish so the real business of the afternoon could begin.

The opener, when it came in the 42nd minute, showed exactly why Dowman belongs at this level. He received possession in the right half-space and played a quick first-time flick that released Martinelli down the left channel. Martinelli carried, assessed, and threaded a throughball across the edge of the area to Jesus, who finished low and hard at Henderson's near post. Jesus has spent most of this season behind Gyokeres in the pecking order. He has never complained, never sulked, and when the chance arrived on the final day he took it like a player who knows his value even when the spotlight is elsewhere.

The second came three minutes into the second half. Arteta had introduced Havertz and Saka at the break, and from the first corner of the half, Havertz met the delivery at the back post and headed it back across the face of goal. Madueke, arriving at pace on the edge of the six-yard box, volleyed through a crowd of bodies and past Henderson. It was our 19th goal from a corner in the Premier League this season, a club record in the competition. Nineteen. From corners alone. In a single league campaign. Anyone still reaching for "Set Piece FC" as an insult is welcome to explain how a record like that is something to be ashamed of.

In the 62nd minute, Mikel Merino came off the bench. He had not played a competitive minute since January, when ankle surgery was supposed to end his season. The fact that he was available at all is a credit to the medical staff and to Merino himself, who has pushed relentlessly to be fit for the run-in. Arteta gave him 28 minutes at Selhurst Park, in a match that did not require him, and that tells us everything about what the manager intends for Saturday.

Merino's presence in Budapest, even as an option from the bench, changes our midfield depth entirely. Without him, the drop-off from the Rice-Zubimendi-Odegaard triangle has been significant all season. With him, we have a genuine rotation option who can control tempo and who has started a European Championship final. He does not need to be at full match fitness to make a difference from the bench, and as of Sunday afternoon he is available. That is a significant development heading into the biggest match of our season.

For most of the afternoon Palace were happy to let us have the ball and wait for mistakes that never came. Glasner, who has his own final to prepare for against Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League, rotated as heavily as Arteta did, and the match settled into the kind of low-intensity rhythm that suited both sides. That changed when Yeremy Pino and Jean-Philippe Mateta came off the Palace bench. Pino brought urgency and width to the right side, and in the 89th minute he delivered a cross from deep that Mateta met with a deft header, looping the ball beyond Kepa to make it 2-1. It was Mateta's 50th Premier League goal, and for a few minutes Selhurst Park remembered there was still a match being played.

Four minutes later, Pino had the ball in the net. He received a deflection off his own initial shot, spun, and fired past Kepa. The home end erupted. Then the screens showed the VAR review: the ball had clipped the chest of Evann Guessand, standing in an offside position, on its way through. The goal was disallowed. In the closing seconds, Chadi Riad headed a chance that Kepa saved, and at the other end Eze, who had come on for Madueke, forced a stop from Henderson. Seven minutes of added time eventually expired and the whistle blew. The match was over, but the afternoon was only getting started.

The squad changed from the white third kit back into the red home strip for the ceremony. There was a 30-minute delay between the final whistle and the presentation, and nobody in the away end moved. The travelling support had arrived at Selhurst Park knowing that whatever happened on the pitch, the trophy was coming home. They sang through the delay. They sang through the ceremony. They sang when Odegaard, flanked by Saka and Rice, lifted the Premier League trophy above his head for the first time.

Odegaard has captained this team through two consecutive seasons of finishing second, through the specific pain of watching other teams lift the trophy we were supposed to win, through a knee injury that cost him seven consecutive matches at the worst possible moment this season. He held the trophy on a sunny afternoon in south London, and every one of those near-misses was answered in a single moment.

It is the 14th time we have been champions of England, the first since 2004, and the squad that did it is not finished yet. Saturday is the Champions League final against PSG in Budapest. We go there as Premier League champions, as a side that has lost five league games all season, as a team with 26 wins from 38 and the best defensive record in the division. The league trophy is in the cabinet. The European Cup is still on the table.