The wait is over. Arsenal, for the first time in 22 years, are Premier League champions. For those of us who remember the Invincibles, who remember th...
The wait is over. Arsenal, for the first time in 22 years, are Premier League champions. For those of us who remember the Invincibles, who remember the sheer audacity of that unbeaten run, this is not just a title. It is an exorcism. Sol Campbell, the cornerstone of that historic defence, put it best when he spoke to GoalZaza ahead of tonight's Champions League final between Paris Saint Germain and Arsenal in Budapest. He said the pressure on these players has been immense, the weight of nearly a quarter of a century of near misses.Campbell knows a thing or two about winning. He was the immovable object at the heart of a team that refused to lose. But he also understands the peculiar torture of watching your former club come up short, time and again. "The wait has been so heavy," he told GoalZaza. "It was all pent up, building year after year, always coming so close but never getting over the line." That is the Arsenal story of the last two decades, is it not The near misses, the squeaky bum time that invariably ended in heartbreak. The ghost of that 2004 season has haunted every side that followed.But now, under Mikel Arteta, the club has finally broken the spell. Campbell was quick to praise the current group. "They've got a wonderful group of players and a great manager in Mikel Arteta," he said. "But having come so close three times on the bounce, I felt these guys needed it." He was right. The outpouring of joy we have seen is not just about the trophy. It is about the release of two decades of agony. It is about a generation of fans who only knew the Invincibles through grainy highlight reels finally having their own moment.This is not a team that parked the bus or relied on raw luck. They showed tactical flexibility, mixing a low block when necessary with devastating transitional play. They have clinical finishers and a steeliness that previous Arsenal sides have lacked in the crucial moments. Campbell himself was the epitome of that steel, and you can see his influence in the defensive organisation of this team. They have not bottled it under the pressure. They have embraced it. And now, they stand on the cusp of the Champions League final. Can they do the double If the spirit Campbell describes is anything to go by, do not bet against them.
