Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta attends a press conference ahead of their UEFA Champions League 2024/25 semi final first/second leg match at Parc des Princes on May 06, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta attends a press conference ahead of their UEFA Champions League 2024/25 semi final first/second leg match at Parc des Princes on May 06, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta attends a press conference ahead of their UEFA Champions League 2024/25 semi final first/second leg match at Parc des Princes on May 06, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images) | Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Liverpool have won the Premier League title as Arsenal face a battle to finish second for the third successive season.
Mikel Arteta has claimed that Liverpool have won the Premier League title with fewer points than Arsenal accrued in the past two seasons - forgetting that there are still three matches remaining
The Reds wrapped up their 20th English championship following a 5-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur. Arne Slot’s troops claimed the silverware with four matches to spare on 82 points. For last Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Chelsea, the Liverpool head coach made six changes as he handed minutes to fringe players such as Wataru Endo, Harvey Elliott and Jarell Quansah.
Arsenal are now in a battle to finish as runners-up for a third successive campaign, having played bridesmaid to Manchester City in the previous two years. Last term, the Gunners racked up 89 points while they gained 84 in the previous season.
Both tallies can still be surpassed by Liverpool in their final trio of fixtures, with 91 points the maximum points that can be garnered. What’s more, Arsenal also had fewer points than Slot’s side at the same point of the previous two seasons (80 in 2023-24 and 81 in 2022-23).
But ahead of the Gunners’ Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain - they trail 1-0 on aggregate - he has suggested it would have been enough to win two Premier Leagues.
Arteta said via the club’s website: “We're going to try to do this season. Winning trophies as well is about being in the right moment, in the right place. Liverpool have won the title with less points than we have in the last two seasons. With the points of the last two seasons, we would have two Premier League titles. So, you have to be in the right moment, in the right place. Hopefully here we are in the right moment, in the right place in Paris tomorrow, to earn the right to be in the final.”
Arteta has won just one trophy since being appointed Arsenal boss five years ago. As things stand, the North London side face another year without claiming a piece of silverware as they trail a PSG side who knocked out Liverpool in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Arsenal have it all to do at the Parc des Princes but Arteta insists that his players are capable of overturning the one-goal deficit. He added: “Huge enthusiasm, huge energy. We are a win away from being the Champions League semi-final, in one of the most beautiful cities in the world against a great opponent - it doesn't get much better than that. We are here to make history, and we have a big opportunity tomorrow.
“We bring a result that gives us so much clarity about what we have to do. A lot of learning from the first leg as well, and how small the margins are between the two teams. The result, in my opinion, should have been very different to that one. So tomorrow, another opportunity to prove that and earn the right to be in the final.”
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