Mikel Arteta has been speaking ahead of Arsenal's Premier League clash against Liverpool
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Mikel Arteta of Arsenal
Mikel Arteta of Arsenal(Image: Photo by Alberto Gardin/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
Mikel Arteta has revealed the two reasons why he believes Arsenal lost out in the battle to be crowned Premier League champions to Liverpool. The Gunners will end the campaign empty-handed for a fifth consecutive year following their Champions League semi-final exit to Paris St Germain earlier this week.
Arne Slot’s side clinched the title in style at a jubilant Anfield with a thumping 5-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at the end of last month. Arteta’s side make the trip to Anfield on Sunday and the Gunners boss was brutally honest about his team falling short in the title race.
He said: “Well the first one with the league there has been two main reasons.
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“One is the amount of games and time that we have played with 10 men, and then the availability of the squad throughout the 38 games.
“It’s very, very difficult to manage and to have very strong performance consistently. We dropped a lot of points, we dropped a lot of points when we were ahead as well which is something that really needs to improve.”
Before he added: “Not winning trophies bothers me a lot because I love winning and absolutely hate losing.
“I don't judge that and there are two words, success and failure, they are not part of my vocabulary.
“It was a very emotional moment after PSG, a very sad moment. We put a lot of hope and energy and work into that and we didn't get the outcome. You need to go through that to become stronger and better and that's what we do.
“But now it's about this season because it's not finished, we still have three games to play. I have been demanding and expecting much more, and after that much more.
“And after that much more. For me it is the only way to do it, for everybody to have really high standards and demands.
“We are very very close to achieving it. I understand the disappointment, and the criticism. It is all part of it. At the end there is one winner and the rest of them aren’t going to win, so they need to reinvent themselves and do better. That is part of the cycle.”
And asked if beating Liverpool on Sunday would send a message that his team could challenge for the title again, he said: "It's about this season. The amount of points that we need to earn to end where we want to."
While Arteta also confirmed that his side will give Liverpool a guard of honour at Anfield.
“They deserve it,” he said. “They have been the better team, they have been the most consistent. What the coaching team have done has been fascinating, it has been really good and they fully deserve it.
"That is the sport, when somebody is better then you have to applaud and accept and try to reach that level."