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Mikel Arteta’s team secured their first league crown since the Invincibles of 2004 by winning the title last season.

After a wait of 22 years, Arsenal climbed back to the top of English football last season as they cruised to the Premier League title.

The barren spell had lasted ever since Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles, and for former Gunners midfielder Ray Parlour — himself part of the title-winning squad of 2004 — that long delay only made the club’s latest triumph feel even more special.

Parlour admitted that, when he was celebrating that previous success, he never imagined Arsenal would have to wait so long for another title, but he feels last season’s triumph was a deserved reward for everyone connected with the club.

“I was absolutely over the moon that they’d done it,” Parlour told FourFourTwo while looking back on the importance of last year’s success.

“It was a huge relief, because if you’d told me 22 years ago, back in 2004, that they weren’t going to win it again for such a long time, I’d have said you were mad.”

Arsenal had become familiar with falling just short in recent seasons, finishing second in three straight campaigns before finally getting the job done last season. That came after they had also recorded 11 top-four finishes since the 2003/04 title-winning campaign.

For Parlour, that record only highlights how difficult it is to regularly challenge for the biggest domestic honour in English football.

“It shows how hard it is to win it,” he continued. “I was thrilled for the squad.”

While Parlour was quick to praise the players for delivering the title, he also feels recognition should go to others across the club.

“The owners and the people who run things behind the scenes deserve plaudits as well, because we all see how things work in football in this day and age,” he continued.

Parlour also pointed out that patience is increasingly uncommon in the modern game, with Arsenal going against that trend by allowing Arteta to keep building his squad despite several near-misses.

“Most of the time, when things go wrong, or when a manager fails to win something, they don’t stay in their job.

“But Arsenal really stuck by Mikel Arteta and they backed him all the way.”