Arsenal have won the Premier League title for the first time since 2004, ending a 20-year drought. The last time the Gunners finished top of the pile, Tony Blair was serving his second term as Prime Minister, with Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, and Sir Keir Starmer all yet to hold the office.
Daily life looked different: a pint of beer in the UK cost £2.33, a pint of milk was just 35p, and a loaf of bread set you back 64p. American singer Eamon’s ‘F*** It (I Don’t Want You Back)’ topped the UK singles chart on the day Arsenal clinched the title at White Hart Lane, while Usher’s ‘Yeah!’ was the global number one of 2004.
Since 2004, approximately two billion people have been born, according to UN data. Social media was in its infancy with MySpace; Facebook, founded months before Arsenal’s triumph, along with X, Instagram and TikTok, have since gained billions of users. Sir Alex Ferguson was Manchester United manager; the club have had seven permanent bosses since, while Arsenal have had just three: Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta.
Manchester City, four years away from their Abu Dhabi takeover, finished 16th in the league, 49 points behind Arsenal. Arsenal’s current first-team players Myles Lewis-Skelly, Cristhian Mosquera and Max Dowman had not been born, while Bukayo Saka was just two. Greece hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics, and Arsenal were still playing at Highbury, moving to the Emirates two years later.
Since Arsenal last won the league, Pep Guardiola has retired from playing, won 14 trophies with Barcelona, seven with Bayern Munich, and six Premier League titles as Manchester City manager. Arteta, then 22, was on the brink of joining Real Sociedad from Rangers, later returning to the UK with Everton in 2005 before joining Arsenal as a player in 2011 and becoming manager in 2019.
