Arsenal players were pictured outside Emirates Stadium at 05:00 BST after they were crowned Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years, as their celebrations continued.

Eberechi Eze posted pictures on Instagram in the early hours of Wednesday, stood outside their stadium in north London alongside team-mates Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber.

“Light that up,” Saka says.

“Let me tell you something. Twenty-two years, 22 years. there was laughing, there was joking, they’re not laughing anymore. Look, it is going to be shining, it is going to be shining bright.”

In another video posted by Saka, 19-year-old defender Myles Lewis-Skelly is seen holding a champagne bottle.

“They called us bottlers,” said academy graduate Lewis-Skelly. “And now we’re holding the bottle.”

Eze’s Instagram post also included a picture of an Arsenal-branded bottle in another reference to criticism the team has received for finishing second in the league for three consecutive seasons.

While an Instagram story post showed captain Martin Odegaard with a bottle in his mouth.

On Tuesday night, fans had gathered outside the stadium and nearby pubs while rivals Manchester City played Bournemouth, needing a win to keep the title race alive.

As the full-time whistle went on the south coast, there was an explosion of cheer in pubs across north London as Arsenal fans celebrated a moment they felt, after recent title near misses, might never come.

Arsenal legend Ian Wright, who scored 185 times for the club and won the title in 1998, was mobbed by fans as he celebrated outside the Emirates.

There were celebrations also at the Gunners’ training ground.

That is where the Arsenal squad had gathered for the evening and, much as in the pubs, the final whistle was greeted by huge celebrations. Players and staff danced and hugged while chanting: “Campeones, Campeones, Ole Ole Ole!”

Last month, Arsenal captain Declan Rice was seen insisting “it’s not done” after the Gunners lost to Manchester City. But on Tuesday, with the title race decided, he posted a picture on social media of players celebrating, captioned: “It’s done.”

The title win came in Mikel Arteta’s seventh year in charge, and underlined just what can be achieved if a manager is given time.

“Mikel Arteta’s been there a long period of time. The best gift you can give a good manager is time,” former Premier League goalkeeper Paul Robinson told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Yes you can give them hundreds of millions of pounds but you have to mould that money into a team, into a dressing room, a winning side.

“You give a good manager time? There’s the proof.”