A quarter of life
22 years ago, on April 25, 2004, at Tottenham's old White Hart Lane stadium, Thierry Henry and his teammates and Arsenal fans celebrated their third Premier League title. At that time, no one could have imagined that Arsenal would have to wait so long to get closer to that feeling again.
When the Gunners were crowned champions in 2004, Max Dowman, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Cristhian Mosquera were not yet born. Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, Gabriel Martinelli were just starting to walk and wear diapers. Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard had just started elementary school. Mikel Arteta, 22 years old, was engrossed in absorbing football knowledge, language and ideas as an ambitious young midfielder.
In the 2025-2026 season, this squad has shouldered the responsibility of millions of fans around the world, who place their trust in the talented, dedicated and eager team of players and coaches to be chosen to represent Arsenal.
It took Liverpool 30 years to win the Premier League for the first time, but 22 years for Arsenal to stand at the top is also no less special. Many things happened during that long period. People loved each other, divorced, had children, watched them grow up, grieved about losing relatives or friends, having jobs, losing jobs, getting sick, celebrating special occasions, and many, many normal days along the journey. That is a quarter of life.
The slogan "Remember who you are, what you are and who you represent" echoes again. Each individual currently represents themselves, for teammates, for family, for the club and for those across the planet who care about Arsenal. In a harsh 10-month season, with the ghost of all previous failed efforts clinging, it carries a significant weight.
Throughout the journey, one of the strange topics for many Arsenal fans is how difficult it is to enjoy victory. It sounds contradictory, but deep beneath is the ultimate desire to achieve the goal, not to let it slip away, clinging to it with life, the desire that has accumulated for 22 years.
Arsenal was not even a championship contender in most of those seasons. But this challenging period turned it into a 4-year title race. After 3 consecutive defeats at the threshold of heaven, of course, they had to live in fear until they finally succeeded.
Looking back at the top
One interesting thing is that when standing at the peak of glory, people look back at the difficulties they have gone through to feel more deeply the taste of victory. For Arsenal, that feeling of "looking back" even bring chills because it is too terrible. More than 8,000 days, it is a long, winding road through stages of disappointment, anger, despair, optimism and - perhaps the worst state for anyone in sports - indifference.
The Gunners, from the position of champions, have gradually declined in the appearance of billionaires in the Premier League, starting from Roman Abramovich at Chelsea. Not only having to tighten their belts to build a new Emirates stadium, they also have to "sell blood". Arsene Wenger's enthusiastic "Young Project" is torn apart, Arsenal loses its place in the power race.
Not only that, they also had to receive hostility from all opponents, leading to horrific leg fractures of Abou Diaby, Eduardo da Silva and Aaron Ramsey. The careers of 2 out of 3 people were ruined. Then the upstage turmoil, the division among fans about Wenger's position...
However, in difficulties, they also found a support - Mikel Arteta. If Arteta of the 2011-2016 period helped Arsenal end their title drought with the 2014 FA Cup, then Arteta of the present, persistent and brave, also won the 2020 FA Cup (as a coach) and now the Premier League.
22 years after "The Unbeaten Generation", at the ancient Highbury Square, the bronze statue of legend Herbert Chapman still stands there, witnessing a new chapter being written. Glory has taken root, the curse of "second place" or "not growing children" is officially removed.
