After 8,060-day drought, Arsenal are deserved Premier League champions - ESPN

LONDON — Arsenal can finally press the reset button and set the clock to zero. After 8,060 days, the Gunners are Premier League champions again, and Mikel Arteta's side has well and truly earned the right to hoist the trophy as the best team in the country.

Were they the most exciting to watch? Maybe not. The most pleasing on the eye? Only if you're an Arsenal supporter. But the Premier League title race has never been a beauty contest.

Pep Guardiola did his best to make it that with six titles in 10 seasons at Manchester City when his team produced some of the best play the league has ever seen, but you don't get an extra medal for winning with flair. All champions are measured by the same metric — points — and Arteta's Arsenal have finally topped the pile after three successive second-place finishes to earn the club's first league title since Arsene Wenger's «Invincibles» clinched their 13th English league championship with a win at Tottenham Hotspur in April 2004.

Wenger's team was one of the best the Premier League has ever seen — a side of pace, flair, aggression and power — but they were dethroned by Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, who were the polar opposite of the Invincibles. Mourinho's side played to their strengths of physical power and defensive fortitude, which means Arteta is not the first coach to take a pragmatic route to the title.

After Arsenal's hat trick of runner-up spots, Arteta was under increasing pressure to turn the team into a winner and prove he was capable of shedding the club's «nearly men» tag. So he made Arsenal hard to beat, focusing on mastering the crucial elements of defending and exploiting set pieces. If you defend well and score from corners and free kicks, you will have a rock-solid