Mikel Arteta believes the timing of injuries that hit his squad late in the season ultimately cost Arsenal in their bid to hold off Manchester City and win the Premier League.
The team’s collapse largely coincided with a back injury sustained by defender William Saliba during their Europa League exit to Sporting Lisbon in March, with stand-in centre-back Rob Holding struggling to match the standard set by his team-mate.
Arsenal were also without strikers Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah, defenders Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu and midfielder Mohamed Elneny for large parts of the season as they were eventually chased down by City despite leading the table for 248 days.
It hands the club the unwanted record of the most number of days spent top of the league without becoming champions.
Collecting just nine points from their last eight games extinguished the challenge from Arteta’s side, but the manager pointed to three draws in April – away at Liverpool and West Ham and at home to bottom-side Southampton – as the period where critical damage was done to their title hopes.
The Gunners threw away two-goal leads at Anfield and the London Stadium before gifting Saints a 3-1 lead at the Emirates, from which they could not recover to win.
Arteta felt his team should have beaten all three opponents in spite of Saliba’s absence, but noted that the title was usually won by sides that did not suffer the bad luck with injuries that hit Arsenal this season.
“There were a few things (that caused the collapse) because we could have won at least three of the games that we drew without Willy and two of them really comfortably,” said Arteta. “But we didn’t.
“We had some critical moments where we didn’t maximise the opportunity that we had in front of us. You have to arrive at this stage with 24 fit players in the best condition, ready to go.
“It happened last season. In the last stages we lost three or four key players and it’s happened this season.
“It’s a big lesson, because when you look who wins and how doesn’t win, they have the 24 of them with the knife in the teeth, ready to go physically and mentally, all going for it and they can have real momentum. We didn’t have that again.
“Timing is everything. Moments define the season in your own way and for opponents. That’s dictated by many, many, many factors and you have to acknowledge that. There are certain things you don’t control and certain other things not.
“We fail in certain (moments) in our control, but I’m sure there are things we could have done different or better.”
Arteta was asked whether he feared for Arsenal’s prospects of challenging again next season, given the difficulties that Liverpool have endured this campaign after pushing City to the final day last May.
Jurgen Klopp’s team have failed to make the top four despite finishing a point behind the champions last season after a pulsating title race.
As well as the loss of key players and feeling the impact of an ageing team, it had been suggested that there had been a mental hangover at Anfield from last year’s pursuit of Pep Guardiola’s side.
“Whatever we do now in the last game and what we’ve done in the last week is just to build into what is going to happen afterwards,” said Arteta.
“Painting a very clear picture of where we want to go and who wants to be part of that journey.”
The manager also reiterated his commitment to the club after a year in which his personal stock has risen greatly.
He added: “I am very happy here, I’m very happy with my contract. Let’s move on and let’s have a great season again.”
Leicester boss Dean Smith knows he will have fulfilled a “big ask” if he can guide his side to Premier League survival on Sunday.
The Foxes must beat West Ham at the King Power Stadium and hope Everton do not win against Bournemouth if they are to avoid relegation to the Championship.
Smith was parachuted into an eight-game SOS mission following Brendan Rodgers’ sacking at the beginning of April but has recorded just one victory from his first seven games and accepts that his side have not done as well as he thought they would.
The 52-year-old has experience of producing the great escape as he led Aston Villa to seven points from their final four games of the 2019/20 season to beat the drop and says something similar would be required.
Smith said: “When you first come in you look at games and I looked at Man City, Liverpool and Newcastle and knew they were going to be tough to get points out of. I expected us probably to win our home games and nick points away from home, with probably the exception of Liverpool.
“We are a few points short of where I expected to be and that’s why it has come down to the last one.
“This would be a very proud day if we do it, but we have to win our game and rely on other results. Each escape will have its own merits, the one at Villa with four games to go was seven points. That in itself was a big ask, this has been a big ask and hopefully we can do it.”
It is only two years ago since Leicester were winning the FA Cup and fighting for Champions League qualification, but they have dropped quickly after having to balance the books in the league.
And Smith says that shows just how tough the league can be for those outside the traditional ‘big six’.
“This league is precarious. You’ve got to have really good models now to stay in the league,” he said.
“You look at Brighton and Brentford, two really good models of clubs, one I know very well because I worked there.
“It is hard. You need the finance behind it but it’s not just about finance as you can see in Brentford’s case.
“There are many different ways to stay in the league but it’s a real tough league. Very quickly you can go and lose two or three games on the spin. All of a sudden that just drains the confidence of players.”
David Moyes admits he finds it impossible to switch off during the close-season.
The West Ham boss is resigned to losing captain Declan Rice this summer and will be inundated with calls from agents suggesting replacements.
“I am the exact opposite of switching off, I am on my phone all the time, there’s recruitment and things going on,” said Moyes.
“When you talk about the job as a manager, it is so full on. I am sure there are some managers who say ‘no problem and I’ll put my phone away’. I have never been like that, I am always on my phone and available.
“I am getting 400 different names put to me every day, a lot of them you don’t know, some of them you do know and some of them you go, ‘I quite like him’.
“When you are doing nothing, the agents start to get busy and that’s when it becomes a difficult time as a manager to switch off.”
Moyes can at least relax in the knowledge West Ham are safe from relegation ahead of Sunday’s trip to Leicester, who are still in the drop zone.
The Hammers also have a Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina in Prague to look forward to next month.
“I hope to be playing plenty of golf, just trying to recover as it’s been a real difficult year for the club and myself,” added Moyes.
“I think we’ve been a good side, but we’ve maybe not shown that we are a good side that often this year.
“But I just see it as a huge achievement for the whole of West Ham as a football club, to be in a European final.
“I don’t know if I would have said this when I came back to the club three years ago, you wouldn’t have believed me at all. The supporters were probably thinking that as well. If I wasn’t at West Ham, I would have said ‘you’re off your head’.
“Maybe the draw in Europe has been a bit kinder to us – but that’s part of being in the cup competitions.”
Pep Guardiola has no doubt “goal machine” Erling Haaland is ready to fire in Manchester City’s two upcoming finals.
The prolific Norwegian’s output has slowed in recent weeks with just one goal in his last six games.
For someone who has plundered 52 in a remarkable season that is a relative drought but that is hardly troubling Guardiola ahead of the FA Cup and Champions League finals.
Premier League champions City face Manchester United at Wembley next weekend before travelling to Istanbul to take on Inter Milan for the European crown seven days later.
City manager Guardiola said: “I’m not going to doubt about the scoring machine, Erling, right now.
“We had the chances. Maybe he’s waiting for the right moment. He will be ready in the right moment to score the goals. He’s ready.
“I’m very pleased he’s achieved all he’s achieved, and the goals and the records.
“Then he goes to Brighton and plays the way he played. He still did damage (without scoring).
“He could say, ‘I’m waiting for the two finals’ but it’s completely the opposite and I like that.”
Guardiola has been impressed by how Haaland has dealt with expectation in his first season in English football.
“I don’t feel he’s felt much pressure,” Guardiola said. “I think he’s handled it really well. He laughs, I think, when people (mention) expectations.
“I remember in the Community Shield, we lost 3-1 and he missed one clear chance – all the memes, all the people talked about that.
“I was close to him and he said, ‘Don’t worry, I will score goals’. He’s this type of guy. He has incredible self-confidence in himself that all he needs is the chance to score the goals.
“It doesn’t matter what happened, he’ll never lose confidence. You define the football players and the athletes in the bad moments. It’s how you react.”
City, who secured the title last weekend, wrap up their Premier League campaign at Brentford on Sunday.
The Bees inflicted City’s only home defeat of the season when they won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium with an Ivan Toney double in November.
Toney will not be involved this time after the striker was banned for eight months for breaching betting regulations.
Guardiola hopes the player bounces back after he has served his punishment.
Guardiola said: “Everyone has problems. If he made a mistake, you accept it and learn from that and (take) a new opportunity. I’m pretty sure he will be (back) better.”
Roberto De Zerbi hopes to help goalkeeper Jason Steele gain England recognition after claiming Lewis Dunk’s international recall is a comparable achievement to Brighton qualifying for the Europa League.
Seagulls skipper Dunk has been included in Gareth Southgate’s squad for next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia, having been in international exile since his debut in November 2018.
The 31-year-old has been rewarded for his key role in Albion’s sixth-placed Premier League finish.
Former Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Sunderland keeper Steele has also been instrumental during a remarkable season at the Amex Stadium after dislodging Robert Sanchez as first choice in early March.
Brighton head coach De Zerbi believes the 32-year-old is capable of joining Dunk in the national team set-up to compete with the likes of Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, Nick Pope and Sam Johnstone.
“It’s great news,” the Italian said of Dunk’s call-up.
“I think it’s maybe the same big news like Europa League because to help one of our players to achieve a target so important, so prestigious is a proud (moment).
“We have to be proud – not only the coaches but the players – for one player.
“We will work in the next season to help Jason Steele to achieve the same target of Lewis Dunk because he has the quality to achieve one target so important.
“In my vision, in my idea, Jason Steele is a top keeper. It’s difficult to find another keeper of this level.
“I study football 24 hours per day but it’s very hard to find another keeper with this quality.”
Steele, a former England Under-21 international who represented Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics, had never played in the top flight until last term.
He has registered six clean sheets and one assist during the past three months, having been preferred to Sanchez due to his ability to play out from the back.
Steele joined the Seagulls in June 2018 – on the back of suffering successive relegations to League One with Blackburn and Sunderland – and had to wait more than three years for his league debut.
“Football is nice because the past is not important,” said De Zerbi.
“I have to analyse the present and sometimes the potential in the future but the past is not important.
“You can change your life in one day, if you believe in yourself and you believe in work.
“And I told him the same: ‘Jason, you have to think you can change. I give you the possibility to change your life, to change your career and you have to believe in yourself because I help you and you help me and you help the team’.”
Brighton complete an unforgettable campaign at Aston Villa on Sunday after cementing their Europa League spot with Wednesday evening’s 1-1 draw at home to champions Manchester City.
De Zerbi, who succeeded Graham Potter in September, feels Albion can progress significantly next term.
“I am looking forward to working in pre-season because I think we can improve in a lot of things,” he said.
“We have played not more than 70 per cent and we have another 30 per cent of improvement.”
Rob Edwards’ delight at Luton ending their 22-year wait for Premier League football was nothing compared to the relief he felt at the news captain Tom Lockyer was all right.
Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship play-off final went the distance at a packed Wembley, where the Hatters rallied after their skipper’s worryingly collapse early on.
Jordan Clark put Luton into a deserved lead that Coventry midfielder Gustavo Hamer cancelled out in the second half, with the match ending 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra-time.
Joe Taylor saw a winner ruled out just before spot-kicks, with Fankaty Dabo’s sudden-death miss sealing a 6-5 shoot-out triumph that propelled Luton back into the top-flight for the first time since 1992.
The dramatic triumph means the Hatters will welcome Manchester City and Co just nine years after facing the likes of Salisbury and Hyde in the Conference Premier.
Luton boss Edwards said: “I felt a bit numb. I just made sure I shook Mark’s hand and his staff.
“I don’t want to be that guy that just starts running off and celebrating before I’ve seen the other manager.
“I just felt very numb. I still do. It hasn’t sunk in quite yet. It might take a few days, but it’s great. It does feel good.
“It was mixed because of Locks (Lockyer), that’s why I couldn’t really go for it celebrating.”
This is a day that will live long in the memory of anybody connected to Luton, whose players held a Lockyer shirt throughout the celebrations.
The Hatters captain collapsed when running back to defence in the early stages of the final, leaving the field on a stretcher and being taken to hospital for tests.
Luton confirmed Lockyer was “responsive and talking to his family”, with his dad posting an image of him in a hospital bed celebrating the shoot-out win.
Edwards cried with delight when he saw that image and hopes to soon celebrate with the much-loved skipper.
“If we can we will (see him in hospital),” he said of Lockyer, who is expected to be kept in overnight. “But I don’t want to get in the way and if I’m not allowed then I won’t.
“If I’m allowed I would love to go and see him, but then I think we’re so tight as a group that I’m not sure if 40-odd people are allowed to go and see him in hospital.
“We will have to check on that, but I’m just so thankful that he’s OK because that’s all that matters.
“I wasn’t really able to enjoy any celebration at the end because all I cared about was Locks.”
As for Coventry, it was a heartbreaking end to a memorable season.
Bottom of the table in October and taken over at the start of the year, boss Mark Robins was agonisingly close to leading the Sky Blues from League Two to the top flight.
“Firstly, congratulations to Luton because once the game is over and done with you’ve got to congratulate the winners,” the long-serving Coventry boss said.
“They’ve come out on top today, however tight the game may have been.
“Congratulations to them and their supporters. I think they have been outstanding all season and good luck to them moving forward.
“I think for us, certainly the opposite of their joy is pain.
“You certainly feel a bit of pain, but once that pain starts to dissipate in however long it takes for it to go, we’ve got to reflect on what an unbelievable achievement it’s been just to even be here today in a play-off final.
“The division is very, very tough as we all know and unfortunately we couldn’t make that next step.”
Lionel Messi was on target as Paris Saint-Germain sealed their record-breaking 11th Ligue 1 title, despite being held to a 1-1 draw at Strasbourg on Saturday.
Messi, who will leave PSG when his contract expires at the end of the season, broke the deadlock with his 16th goal of the season just before the hour at Stade de la Meinau.
Strasbourg substitute Kevin Gameiro thwarted Christophe Galtier's side with a 79th-minute leveller, but the point was enough for PSG to secure a successful Ligue 1 title defence with a match to spare.
Strasbourg's top-flight status was also confirmed after the draw for Frederic Antonetti's hosts maintained their six-point cushion over 17th-placed Nantes, who failed to beat Lille.
Inter secured Champions League qualification in their penultimate game of the Serie A season, dealing a fatal blow to Atalanta's own top-four hopes with a 3-2 win at San Siro.
The Nerazzurri – finalists in Europe's premier club competition this term – stormed into a two-goal lead within just two minutes and 49 seconds after Romelu Lukaku and Nicolo Barella were on target.
Atalanta needed a result to keep their slim hopes of a top-four finish alive, and they were handed a lifeline by Mario Pasalic before the interval on Saturday.
Yet Inter added a deserved third through Lautaro Martinez after the break, proving Andre Onana's late own goal a mere Atalanta consolation, as the Nerazzurri moved eight points clear of their fifth-placed visitors.
Lukaku only needed 39 seconds to put Inter ahead, timing his run from Martinez's throughball before rounding Marco Sportiello and tapping into an empty net.
Atalanta found themselves further behind by the three-minute mark, Barella hammering a rebound into the roof of the net after Sportiello twice saved from Federico Dimarco.
Hakan Calhanoglu was denied a third by the offside flag when he netted with a ferocious volley, before Andre Onana was forced into action by Rasmus Hojlund and Teun Koopmeiners.
Atalanta halved the arrears nine minutes before half-time, Pasalic hooking a finish beyond Onana following a goalmouth scramble.
Calhanoglu drew a flying save from Sportiello as Atalanta wilted after the interval, Inter managing the game in typically assured fashion.
Martinez stretched Inter's lead further when Marcelo Brozovic teed up a tap-in 13 minutes from time, before Luis Muriel's powerful long-range strike deflected in off the unfortunate Onana as the Nerazzurri just held on for victory.
The Premier League has a "bright future" despite a record-breaking season for managerial departures, according to the League Managers' Association chief executive Richard Bevan.
The 2022-23 season has seen 14 managerial changes – four more than any other previous Premier League campaign – after Javi Gracia parted ways with Leeds United just 70 days into his Elland Road tenure.
Graham Potter was also dismissed with little time to impress after replacing Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea, with only eight of the 20 top-flight clubs going through the entire campaign without a change in the dugout.
Bevan understands the brutal nature of the business and suggested managers acknowledge the pressure to provide instant success for their respective sides.
"Certainly, in football, the volatility of being a football manager and a coach is something that they understand. The coaches understand the importance of results," he told Stats Perform at the Football Business Awards.
"At the same time, I think it's making sure that all of our coaches have the right teams and the tools to succeed as a football manager.
"We've got some great successes as well, in terms of young managers coming through. And I think we have a bright future, despite the statistics of manager tenure this year.
"I think like everything else in business, and today with a football club, preparation [is essential to succeeding in a short space of time], and equally getting recruitment right.
"[Going forward] I hope the coaches and the managers all achieve their aspirations and also recognise that failure is not fatal.
"[Managers need to] make sure that they can maximise the opportunities and really build their team so that they're successful on the pitch, as well as the club being successful off the pitch."
Reggae Boy Amari’i Bell will be playing English Premier League football next season after he helped Luton Town F.C defeat Coventry City 6-5 on penalties in the Championship Playoff Final at Wembley on Saturday.
The 29-year-old left back played all 120 minutes as the Hatters, as they are called, secured Premier League football for the first time since 1992.
Luton Town took the lead in the 23rd minute through Jordan Clark before Coventry equalized in the 66th minute through Gustavo Hamer.
Then, with the teams locked at 5-5 in the penalty shootout, Coventry’s Fankaty Dabo missed in sudden death to give Luton the win.
LaLiga's handling of the "absolutely disgraceful" instances of racist abuse towards Vinicius Junior has been "completely inadequate".
That was the message from Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari after Vinicius was subjected to more abuse by sections of the crowd at Valencia's win over Real Madrid last Sunday.
Valencia's punishments for the incident were reduced on appeal, with the partial closure of Mestalla Stadium cut from five matches to three and their financial penalty also sliced.
Bhandari, chair of the organisation aiming to eradicate racism from football, says the Spanish Football Federation and LaLiga president Javier Tebas have failed to support Vinicius.
"I think the treatment we've seen of Vinicius has been absolutely disgraceful," Bhandari told Stats Perform at the Football Business Awards.
"It's 10 or 11 games, it's not just this last weekend, it's been happening over the course of the last two seasons.
"The response of the Spanish authorities has been completely inadequate and it's actually been worse than inadequate because it's made the matter worse.
"The way Javier Tebas, who runs LaLiga, responded trying to blame Vinicius and treating him as if he's a problem when actually he's the victim… it's really sort of going back 30 or 40 years."
Tebas was a vocal critic after Vinicius labelled LaLiga racist, the league's president criticising the 22-year-old for "not informing himself properly" before subsequently apologising for those comments.
The incident – and Tebas' reaction to it – sparked widespread condemnation of LaLiga and Spanish football's relationship with race, with Bhandari calling for further action on the issues.
He added: "They need to get on with taking more concrete steps to kick discrimination out of Spanish football, it's not acceptable to have whole stands of fans doing monkey chants.
"Making monkey noises and shouting monkey to Vinicius, that's totally unacceptable and there shouldn't be any deflection and making excuses for that kind of behaviour, which is what we have seen.
"They need to get on it and if that means closing the stand, that's a good step. We welcome that and fines are a move in the right direction.
"But if it doesn't stop that should move to points deductions and further sanctions."
Rodrygo scored a deadly double as Real Madrid battled from behind to win 2-1 at 10-man Sevilla in LaLiga on Saturday.
Carlo Ancelotti's side strengthened their grasp on second place in the league after recovering from an early setback to triumph at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Rodrygo's free-kick cancelled out Rafa Mir's early opener in an entertaining first half in Andalusia, where Madrid played without their star duo of Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior.
Rodrygo's second goal with just over 20 minutes remaining proved decisive before Marcos Acuna was dismissed as Madrid moved four points clear of rivals Atletico Madrid, who host Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Mir fired Sevilla into a third-minute lead after reacting quickly to sweep into the top-left corner when Bryan Gil's initial effort ricocheted kindly into his path.
Rodrygo spurned a glorious opportunity to equalise shortly after, dragging wide when unmarked from Lucas Vazquez's low cross – but the Madrid winger soon made amends.
An unsighted Yassine Bounou was deceived as Rodrygo whipped a 25-yard free-kick into the bottom-right corner after 29 minutes, although Sevilla should have been ahead at half-time.
Erik Lamela volleyed against the post with Thibaut Courtois stranded, before the forward lifted a back-post chance over after an inviting Alejandro Gomez delivery.
Rodrygo somehow lofted over when one-on-one with Bounou after the break, while Mir turned narrowly wide from Acuna's pinpoint centre.
Yet Rodrygo proved the difference after 69 minutes, coolly finishing a rapid counter-attack by sliding into the bottom-right corner to down Sevilla, who saw Acuna dismissed later on for a mindless lunge on Vazquez.
Luton completed their fairy-tale rise from non-league to Premier League with a dramatic, sudden-death penalty shoot-out victory against Coventry in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final.
Just nine years on from ending their five-season stretch in the Conference Premier, the Hatters are celebrating returning to the top-flight for the first time since 1992.
Previous point deductions and disappointments were left in the rear-view mirror at Wembley, where Jordan Clark’s opener was cancelled out by Coventry favourite Gustavo Hamer.
The match finished 1-1 after extra-time and Fankaty Dabo’s penalty miss meant a famous 6-5 sudden-death shoot-out victory for jubilant Luton.
Jim Goodwin has been appointed as Dundee United manager on a permanent basis on the eve of Sunday’s decisive fixtures in their battle to avoid the drop from the cinch Premiership.
United’s fate is out of their hands – they need to win at Motherwell and hope Kilmarnock beat Ross Count and wipe out the Staggies’ eight-goal advantage – but Goodwin and the Tannadice club have committed to one another regardless with a two-year deal.
Whether United survive or not, the club are planning a major overhaul in the summer, with Goodwin seen as the best man to lead it.
“I’m really pleased to have been able to get things agreed with the club,” the 41-year-old said. “I’m also incredibly grateful to the chairman and the rest of the board for offering me the position in the first place.
“This is a terrific football club with a great history and there are a lot of things to be positive about, albeit we’ve had a difficult season.
“It is now my job to make the necessary changes to ensure the club improves and moves forward in the right manner. Every decision I make during my time at Dundee United will be in the best interests of the club.
“Recruitment is pivotal at any football club. I recognise where the weaknesses have been this season and understand the key areas we need to improve and strengthen in the summer. I think that’s something for the supporters to look forward to.”
Chief executive Luigi Capuano said it was important to secure Goodwin’s position early in order to focus on the challenges ahead.
“As a club, we believed it was important to have him in place as soon as possible to allow the crucial rebuilding process to begin ahead of the 2023/24 season immediately,” he said.
“Since his initial appointment in March, Jim has been an example of professionalism, displaying all of the key attributes we feel are necessary to lead the football club and deliver on-field success in the future.”
Although the odds appear to be against United, midfielder Dylan Levitt claims he has seen “madder things happen in football” than the events it would take for them to avoid the drop.
The Wales midfielder said: “We need to go there and win, that’s the main thing first and foremost for the fans coming, for personal pride, to get a win before the end of the season.
“And then obviously football, you never know what can happen. You never know. But we are just going to go there and hopefully finish on a high.
“I have seen madder things happen in football, I think everyone has.
“Very slim chance but we need to go there and win the game more important than anything, just for yourself, the family and the fans.
“Going out and losing the last game of the season, no-one wants that.”
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