Arteta accepts blame for ‘very painful’ Arsenal title collapse after explaining what ‘cost’ them
Mikel Arteta has taken the responsibility for Arsenal failing to win the Premier League, admitting it will be tough to galvanise his players after their downfall.
Arsenal’s dream of winning the 2022-23 Premier League title is over after they lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Now, it is impossible for them to catch Manchester City, who will lift the trophy for a third consecutive season.
Arsenal were previously top of the table for 248 days, which is a record amount of time for a Premier League team not to win the title.
Nevertheless, it has been a season of progress for Arteta’s side, who will be back in the Champions League next season for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign.
But they will look back at 2022-23 as a massive missed opportunity to win a first league title since 2003-04.
Arteta told Sky Sports: “First of all congratulations to Manchester City for winning the championship but it is a sad day for us after everything we have done in the season. Now we have to face the reality.
“Today we gave a goal away and we were not good enough to break them down. We could have played for three hours and we would not have done it.
“It is my responsibility and I have to take it… When it is beautiful great, when it isn’t, that is sport.
“The amount of goals we have given to the opponents recently has cost us but we can’t put the guilt on someone. We should have been better as a team and in the last few weeks we fell short.
“This is football. It is a very sad day. We have been working for 11 months with that aim and have been on top for so many days and building enthusiasm. We have competed but at the end we didn’t have enough.
“Now we must heal. It is very painful and extremely sad. I have to find a way to lift the players and we have a difficult week ahead of us.”
Ramsdale reacts to Arsenal failure
Meanwhile, Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale – who this week extended his contract with the club – has similarly suggested his team only have themselves to blame.
Ramsdale told BBC Sport: “The dust won’t settle until the summer. We are very disappointed how it has happened but we are proud we pushed all the way.
“One team in six seasons has beaten Manchester City to the title. But it was our own doing, individual errors in games we should have won. We were in a position to win those games.
“Credit to Forest, they were fighting for their lives. We knew the type of game it would be. We just couldn’t break them down. We lacked that magic moment and we got punished on the counter attack.
“We pushed and pushed but couldn’t break through them.”
Arsenal’s season will conclude with a home match against Wolves next Sunday.
