Mikel Arteta has revealed that he discovered Arsenal had won the Premier League title while having a barbecue in his garden, unable to watch Manchester City's match against Bournemouth. The Gunners ended their 22-year wait for the title after rivals City could only manage a draw at Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
Title Decided While Arteta Cooked
The players were given Wednesday off before returning to their London Colney training base on Thursday, where they had gathered to watch the match. However, manager Arteta was not with his players during that triumphant moment. Instead, he was at home, deliberately avoiding the game.
'I went home, went outside to the garden, started to build some fire and started to do some barbecue. I didn't watch any of it,' said Arteta. 'I was just hearing noises in the background and the living room, then the magic happened.'
Arteta's oldest son delivered the news. 'My oldest son opened the garden door, ran towards me, started to cry, gave me a hug and said "We're champions Daddy". My other two boys and my wife came over and it was beautiful to see the joy on them, they are always with me.'
A Magical Moment
Arteta described the moment as 'magical'. Shortly after, he received a video call from captain Martin Odegaard. 'A minute later Martin Odegaard was with the video: "Where are you? Come over". I said: "Enjoy it. See you in a few hours, somewhere in London".'
The new champions were back in training on Thursday ahead of Sunday's victory parade at Crystal Palace. More to follow.
