FA Premier League
CRYSTAL PALACE 1 (Mateta 89)
ARSENAL 2 (Gabriel Jesus 42, Madueke 48)

YES, there was a football match at Selhurst Park today (Sunday).

By the time the last supporters were ordered out of the gates – and then away from the stadium altogether – it might almost have been forgotten that Crystal Palace and Arsenal had played out the final match of the Premier League season.

A 2-1 victory for the Gunners left Manchester City trailing by seven points in the end. With five games to go, it is worth remembering, Pep Guardiola’s team had still been top on goal difference.

Almost as soon as one of City’s fans made his now-infamous bottle joke for the cameras, and Declan Rice had to insist “it’s not done” to some of his teammates, everything changed. Arsenal won all of their last five games and took the crown.

And that is what today was really all about: a coronation at the Palace, no less. A party 22 years in the making.

No wonder, then, that the players did not want to leave the pitch, like kids in a hotel swimming pool when it is time to come in for the night. The fans, basking in golden-hour sunshine, did not want to depart either.

To Rice, they sang: “He said it’s not done, he said it’s not done… Declan Rice, he said it’s not done.”

That defiance is what has carried the Gunners to this sunshine moment, today’s win following run-in successes against Newcastle, Fulham, West Ham and Burnley.

If the fixtures looked kind, it is worth remembering the tough start Arsenal were handed right at the beginning of the season: opening at Old Trafford before quickly being asked to face Liverpool, Newcastle and City. People had said Mikel Arteta might be gone by the end of September if his team could not find a way through that forest of tricky fixtures.

But, the trip to Anfield aside, they did. A free-flowing autumn followed by a grinding determination in the spring has made them deserved champions.

It is a big ask for them to defeat Paris St Germain in the Champions League final, but whatever happens in Budapest on Sunday, the party is carrying on with near-nightly frequency.

Around 200,000 people amassed again back at the Emirates Stadium after watching the trophy lift at home or in pubs in danger of running out of lager. Arsenal have long laid claim to being London’s biggest club. The scale of the celebrations has surprised many, but perhaps reinforced that particular brag.

So what did happen on the pitch today?

Both Arsenal and Palace fielded under-strength teams with their final European assignments ahead. The hosts are in Leipzig this week, where they will be favourites to win the Europa Conference League against Rayo Vallecano.

Of those who did play, perhaps some were making their last appearance in these colours. Gabriel Jesus, a culture-changer when he first arrived at Arsenal from City, has struggled despite the club’s glory this season.

He had hit the post when well placed, headed wide and missed a one-on-one which probably should have been squared to Gabriel Martinelli, before finally sweeping in the opening goal just before half-time.

There were plenty of other squandered chances. Noni Madueke had fired one straight at Dean Henderson before claiming the second goal by steering in a set-piece on the other side of the break.

Substitutes Eberechi Eze, Mikel Merino and Viktor Gyokeres all failed to convert good chances after being summoned from the bench.

It did not matter. The few thousand Arsenal fans lucky enough to see the trophy lift today were here for just that.

There was no panic when Jean-Philippe Mateta nodded in a late consolation header, nor when it briefly looked as though the match would end 2-2, only for Yeremy Pino’s strike to be ruled out for offside.

“Throughout this journey, we have made some massive steps,” said Arteta afterwards.

“We have accomplished a lot of things that, in my opinion, have a lot of value. But at the end of the day, we are here to win major trophies. That was the ultimate goal and we were very close.

“On three occasions, we fell short at the end, and that was very painful – but I think that’s what has driven all of us to find new ways to show what we are made of. That’s why I said that the manner in which we’ve done it, it makes it even better.”

He added: “What I said to the boys is that this shirt now represents something else. We are the champions and that brings a lot of confidence and a different kind of presence and energy to it.

“But also another kind of responsibility. My job now, and everybody’s at the club, is to live up to those standards and achieve more and more because I think we are capable of winning more.”

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