Premier League Trophy at Selhurst Park: A Season Captured

The Premier League trophy is back at Selhurst Park, and somewhere in the middle of the confetti, the noise and the red smoke, David Price is quietly doing what he does best – freezing a title-winning season into 20 frames.

The club photographer, who shadowed the team from Old Trafford in August to that golden afternoon in south London in May, has picked out his favourite images from a campaign that rarely stopped for breath. His list runs from 20 to one, but this is less a ranking and more a visual diary of a year when everything seemed to happen at once.

Behind the curtain

It starts away from the roar of the stands. “Hello Hincapie” is a reminder that the story of a season often begins under harsh studio lights, not floodlights. Piero Hincapie, mid-signing video, grips the club flag as the light cuts across him. No crowd, no chaos. Just a new signing, a new shirt, a new chapter, captured in a clean, unforgiving beam.

From there, the lens snaps straight into motion. “Gabi gets away” is pure Gabriel Martinelli: a blur of red tearing away from two Kairat Almaty defenders. No tricks, no clutter, just speed and power stretching the frame as he breaks clear. You can almost hear the gasp from the touchline.

On the training pitches, the tone shifts. “Competitive edge” shows Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka locked into a pre-session game that looks anything but gentle. It’s playful, but only just. Faces set, bodies coiled, two of the squad’s biggest figures turning a kickabout into a contest. The season’s mentality, distilled into one duel on a quiet pitch.

Parade, pressure and personality

Then comes the day nobody quite knew how to prepare for. “Parade day” is Price’s attempt to make sense of it. Every inch of the frame is crammed with supporters, streets swallowed by colour and noise. Red smoke billows through the shot, a streak of chaos that says more than any quote could about what this title meant.

The new number 10 gets his own moment. “Let it all work out” shows him waving to the Arsenal supporters, a clean, uncluttered image that belies how hard it was to capture. Two cameramen jostling for the same angle, one narrow window of space, one sharp frame that lands. In a season of movement, it’s a rare pause.

Some celebrations, though, were always coming. “The mask” catches Viktor mid-iconic routine, the kind of shot Price knew he’d get a few times if things went to plan. This one lands perfectly: crisp, unfussy, the celebration that became a calling card rendered in high definition.

Not every standout frame features a player. “Picture perfect” belongs to the fans. A hand-made sign, a window framing two supporters reacting as the parade buses roll into view. No choreography, no posing. Just the split-second when they realise the champions are turning down their street.

Under the lights, under the skin

Before Bayer Leverkusen came to town, Price dug out an old star filter from his office. “Under the lights” is the result. Declan Rice, close enough to touch, with the floodlights bursting behind him into a constellation of points. The light wraps his face, a captain-in-waiting framed by the glare of a European night.

As the season tightened, the emotion sharpened. “What it means” captures that shift. Leandro and Cristhian explode into celebration after Leo’s vital goal at the London Stadium, bodies and faces contorted by the release. By that stage, every strike carried weight; this frame shows exactly how much.

Sometimes, though, it’s the light that does the work. “Captain’s glow” finds Martin Ødegaard standing over a free-kick, planted in a thin shaft of sunlight that slices across the pitch. His number glows while the rest of the scene sinks into shadow. A leader literally illuminated, just for a moment.

Back at Selhurst Park on the day the trophy was lifted, the chaos swirls again. “Cool customer” cuts through it. Eberechi Eze stands apart from the frenzy, composed, almost detached, looking effortlessly cool while the Premier League celebrations rage behind him. On a day of noise, he brings a different kind of calm.

Cold nights, hot moments

Not every memory comes drenched in sunshine. “Cold on the coast” takes us to Bournemouth in January 2026, stripped into black and white to match the evening. The choice suits the image; the lack of colour makes you feel the chill. You can sense the breath in the air, the bite in the wind, the grind of a winter away day.

From that same stretch of the campaign comes “On the board”. Mikel Arteta celebrates with the away supporters, the scoreboard looming behind him like a silent witness. Price had used a different frame from this game in his 2025 roundup, but this one earns its place too: manager, fans, numbers. The whole story in one shot.

In the box, the details get messy. “Rising highest” thrives on that chaos. Bodies everywhere, limbs crossing, defenders flailing – and in the middle of it all, little Gabi launching himself above the crowd to head home. The kind of goal that disappears in real time, then lives forever in a still image.

Some goals cut deeper than others. “Chelsea dagger” is one of those. Kai’s face tells you everything: the raw joy, the edge, the history bundled into one expression. Steam rises from his shoulders, catching the floodlights and turning the moment almost cinematic. A rivalry condensed into a single, searing frame.

Gold, giants and derby days

As the trophy tour gathers pace, Price steps away from the obvious shots. “Gold dust” shows Myles proudly displaying his gold Premier League patch, a small detail that carries enormous weight. While Stuart MacFarlane tracks the silverware, this is the quieter story: the badge that proves you made it.

“Winning feeling” zooms back out to the big men at the back. Gabriel and William Saliba stride off the pitch at the London Stadium after a vital win over West Ham, celebrating together. Two giant defenders, shoulders squared, faces lit with the satisfaction of a job done when it mattered.

Then comes the North London derby. “NLD emotions” is Price at his most playful. Ebs covering a huge grin. Zubi shrugging, as if to say, “What did you expect?” Piero and Declan on the brink of going wild. The frame crackles with the particular charge only this fixture brings. No caption can quite match the expressions.

The final image on his list is titled “A moment in time”, and it feels exactly that. Simple, almost understated, but with the Highbury Clock End clock looming in the background, it ties the whole journey back to where it all began. Past and present in one frame, a season’s worth of noise distilled into a single, still second.

The trophy will move on, the squad will evolve, the fixtures will reset. These 20 shots won’t. They’ll sit there, unchanging, long after the next campaign kicks off – a permanent record of a year when this team turned moments into medals.