BRING A BOTTLEIt may have taken Mikel Arteta six years and well over a billion pounds but his team trusted the process and got there in the end. Arsenal are Premier League champions and in scenes that called to mind the closing moments of the movie Fever Pitch, jubilant Gooners spilled out of homes and pubs around Highbury and Islington in a collective release of tension and pure, unadulterated joy to mark the occasion. However, unlike Fever Pitch, it wasn’t broad daylight at 9.55pm and instead of Colin Firth and Ruth Gemmell, it was Robbie Lyle from AFTV and Ian Wright who got their smooch on as fans partied long into the night outside the stadium. Any doubts that a brooding and occasionally intense man from a small town near San Sebastián might not have been up to the task of getting Arsenal over the line had finally been dispelled and for that, Andoni Iraola deserves great credit. His Bournemouth side’s draw against Manchester City means Arsenal can no longer be caught.On Sunday, they will hoist the Premier League trophy aloft at Selhurst Park following a kickabout against Crystal Palace destined to be so convivial and relaxed that even the lesser-spotted Christian Nørgaard might fancy his chances of getting a run-out. You would have needed a heart of stone to begrudge Arsenal fans their evening of fun, what with them having been repeatedly fed through the emotional mincer by their own team in recent months but needless to say there were no shortage of cynics prepared to denigrate their achievement. Yes, there is certainly a case to be made that Arteta’s brand of belt-and-braces football can be a tough watch – as riveting and repetitive as an EasyJet safety demonstration – but actual Arsenal fans are prepared to tolerate it as long as it delivers trophies.With the Premier League already in the bag, a Bigger Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain to come and Tottenham still in the relegation mix, Arteta has certainly delivered this season. “We now have the chance to cap one of the greatest seasons in our 140-year history ... when we head to Budapest next week to contest our second-ever Bigger Cup final,” parped the club’s website at 3am, just a couple of hours before early birds Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze were spotted mooching around a by-now deserted Emirates.While the question of what on earth four Arsenal players were doing wandering north London at that ungodly hour may well be answered over the next couple of days, it will take longer to find out if winning the title after three consecutive near misses will mark the beginning of a sustained era of dominance. With most of their rivals facing uncertainty at best, Arsenal are in pole position to make hay while the sun shines and with a giant orangutan off their back, Arteta and his players no longer have to contend with the label of “bottlers”. Even the club dog, Win, is finally living up to her name and no longer in breach of the canine trade descriptions act.LIVE ON BIG WEBSITEJoin Scott Murray at 8pm (BST) for minute-by-minute updates on Freiburg 1-3 Aston Villa in the Bigger Vase final. QUOTE OF THE DAY“This Southampton story is one of the maddest I’ve seen. But why isn’t the play-offs starting again with the 4 other teams? Boro v Hull would have been the semi!! Confused” – Wrexham’s Josh Windass wants the Championship playoffs to start again with, yes, his own team involved, after Southampton were kicked out by the EFL for spying. Saints called the decision “manifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game”.Josh Windass has a plan. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PAFOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS