A jubilant Bukayo Saka hit back at Arsenal’s critics by saying “they’re not laughing at us any more” as the club celebrated their first Premier League title in 22 years.

Arsenal players and staff gathered at their London Colney training base to watch Manchester City draw 1-1 with Bournemouth, guaranteeing the Gunners their first championship since 2004.

There were wild scenes at Arsenal’s training ground, and outside the Emirates Stadium, where thousands of supporters gathered to toast the club’s success by lighting fireworks and flares. Ian Wright, who scored 185 times for Arsenal and won the title in 1998, was mobbed by fans as he joined in on the party outside the club’s ground.

Arsenal, runners-up in the league for the previous three seasons, faced accusations of “bottling” their trophy push after they lost at City on 19 April. But while City subsequently drew at Everton and Bournemouth, Arsenal bounced back by winning their next four without conceding to finish top.

Mikel Arteta, who rejoined Arsenal as manager in December 2019 with the club in disarray, installed a blacked-out Premier League trophy at the ctraining base which would light up only when the club were champions.

“Light that up,” Saka said in footage posted by Jurriën Timber on his Instagram account. “Let me tell you something. Twenty-two years, 22 years. There was laughing, there was joking, they’re not laughing any more. Look, it is going to be shining, it is going to be shining bright.”

In an Instagram story, this time on Saka’s channel, Myles Lewis-Skelly is holding a champagne bottle. “They called us bottlers,” said Lewis-Skelly. “And now we’re holding the bottle.”

Some of the players took their celebration party to the Emirates, with Eberechi Eze posting a picture outside the stadium alongside Declan Rice, Timber and Saka, in the early hours of Wednesday. Eze’s three Instagram slides also included a picture of an Arsenal-branded bottle in another jibe at the club’s detractors.