Manchester City rubber-stamped their fifth Premier League title in six years this weekend after overhauling Arsenal
Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, believes Liverpool were the impetus behind his team’s surrender of the title race to Manchester City, the Premier League champions this season.
The Gunners were ultimately beaten to the trophy by Pep Guardiola and his star-studded team despite having been in first place for many months of the season. In the past six years, City have won the championship five times. This season, they have a chance to win an unprecedented treble.
However, after witnessing their charge falter, Arsenal will need some time to reflect. And, according to Arteta, it very well could have started at Anfield last month when goals from Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino motivated the Reds to an incredible comeback against a 2-0 Arsenal lead.
Liverpool started their own European quest with a 2-2 draw in that match. However, it appears they will have to compete in the Europa League rather than joining Arsenal in the Champions League.
An understandably dejected Arteta said, “First of all, congratulations to Manchester City for winning the championship, but it is a sad day for us, after his team was defeated by Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
“I accept my responsibility for it. Fantastic when it’s beautiful; when it’s not, that’s sport.
“The number of goals we have given to the opponents recently has cost us, but we can’t put the blame on anyone,” Arteta, an Everton player who spent time in Merseyside during his playing career, continued. “In the last few weeks, we haven’t performed as well as a team as we could have.
“It all began after what occurred at Anfield. A lot of goals have been given up by us.
In those contests, we’ve conceded 16 goals.
That is impossible to maintain.
Margin is nonexistent.
“We have worked for 11 months to achieve our goal of winning the title, and we have been successful for so many days. Despite our efforts, we fell short. We now need to get better.”
