Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed as the new permanent Chelsea boss.

The Blues have turned to the former Tottenham manager at the end of a  turbulent campaign which saw them finish 12th in the Premier League.

Here, the PA news agency examines Pochettino’s managerial record.

Espanyol

Won 53, drew 38, lost 70; 32.9 per cent win rate

Having finished his playing career with the Catalan club, Pochettino was pressed into service to lead a struggling team in January 2009 and lifted them from the relegation zone to a mid-table finish – drawing with local rivals Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and beating them in LaLiga.

Espanyol finished 11th, eighth and 14th in his three full seasons in charge, though the former Argentina defender left with them bottom of the table in November 2012 after a poor run of form and a dispute over financial restrictions.

Southampton

Won 23, drew 18, lost 19; 38.3 per cent win rate

Taking over mid-season from the popular Nigel Adkins, Pochettino led Saints to a 14th-placed finish in 2012-13 and an impressive eighth the following campaign.

Conducting press conferences via an interpreter throughout his spell on the south coast, Pochettino was nevertheless clearly able to get his message across to an over-achieving squad and position himself for higher-profile roles to come.

Tottenham

Won 159, drew 62, lost 72; 54.3 per cent win rate

Pochettino’s five-year reign at Tottenham marked the most prolonged period of success and stability in their recent history, with the club finishing fifth, third, second, third and fourth and reaching finals of the Champions League and the League Cup.

The Argentinian nurtured a Spurs squad that was the youngest in the Premier League when they ended as runners-up in 2016-17, containing a mix of domestic talents such as Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier, and overseas players including Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min and Toby Alderweireld.

A club that had had 10 coaches in 12 years before Pochettino’s arrival in 2014 have cycled through Jose Mourinho, interim boss Ryan Mason (twice), Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and caretaker Cristian Stellini in short order since his departure in November 2019.

Paris St Germain

Won 55, drew 15, lost 14; 65.5 per cent win rate

The French giants, where Pochettino spent time as a player, brought him the first major trophies of his managerial career by winning the Coupe de France in 2020-21 and Ligue 1 in 2021-22.

However, his tenure was not deemed successful as a runners-up finish to Lille in 2020-21 meant PSG missed out on the Ligue 1 title for only the second time in nine seasons, and he failed to guide the capital club to the Champions League final.

Pochettino was sacked last summer having won less than 66 per cent of matches in all competitions, whereas his predecessor Thomas Tuchel – who started this season as Chelsea boss – had a 75 per cent win rate across his two-and-a-half years in charge.

Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed Chelsea manager on a two-year deal.

The former Tottenham coach, who has been out of work since leaving Paris St Germain last year, will take over from interim boss Frank Lampard who oversaw his final game in charge against Newcastle on Sunday.

It brings to an end an almost two-month process to find a permanent successor to Graham Potter, who was sacked on April 2.

The PA news agency understands Pochettino had been the club’s first choice from early in the search, which was led by co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

He was the only candidate the club got into serious talks with, despite conversations that took place with former Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann, ex-Spain coach Luis Enrique and Burnley’s Vincent Kompany.

The new manager, whose contract includes an option for a third season, will work closely with Winstanley and Stewart as the club look to rebuild after their worst season in 30 years.

New Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino will find he has a daunting in-tray once he gets to work at Stamford Bridge as the Blues look to bounce back from the wreckage of this season.

The job presents as many opportunities as it does challenges and a coach of Pochettino’s charisma, calibre and character will relish trying to mould solutions out of the current malaise.

Here, the PA news agency looks at what the former Tottenham and Paris St Germain boss has to get to grips with.

Slim down the squad…

Successive managers have reaped the chaos of the new Chelsea ownership’s scattergun approach to recruitment during the last 12 months and a significant clear-out is needed if the squad is to be anything like manageable.

Apart from the obvious logistical headache of trying to organise training with a bloated group that exceeds 30, there is the effect on morale that having so much surplus and deadwood will have around Cobham.

There is clearly no sense in the manager and his staff investing time and attention during sessions in players who are unlikely to feature, particularly when those currently comprising the starting XI present next to no cohesion.

Pochettino needs to figure out quickly who of the current crop has a role to play in his rebuild and who can be put towards easing the Financial Fair Play pressure the club is under.

… but persuade Joao Felix to stay

It might seem counter-productive considering the above but convincing the on-loan winger to turn his six-month loan stay from Atletico Madrid into a permanent one will be key.

It will likely mean tossing another hefty transfer fee into an already nightmarish FFP calculation, but Felix has been one of few recruits under new owner Todd Boehly who has shown something close to his best, albeit not consistently.

He has six months of acclimatising to the Premier League under his belt and, like Enzo Fernandez, has the potential under the right manager to become one of the best in the world.

Don’t write off Aubameyang and Lukaku

Despite the fact that only four Premier League teams this season have fewer goals – 19th-placed Leicester have outscored them by 13 – there are two strikers on Chelsea’s books that between them have scored almost 600 goals at the top level.

It has not worked out so far for either Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Romelu Lukaku at Stamford Bridge, but nor has much else during the two years since the club paid £97.5million to bring in Lukaku – currently on loan at Inter Milan – and Aubameyang’s time has been even more chaotic.

If the problem until now has been one of relationships, personnel and the lack of a settled environment then a new manager and staff could go some of the way towards wiping the slate clean for both players.

There is also a buy-back option on Tammy Abraham about to come into effect that, considering his success at Roma, might also be worth looking at given the lack of firepower.

Give supporters back that old Chelsea swagger

Part of the reason Graham Potter never looked a natural fit at Stamford Bridge was an absence of the self-assurance bordering on arrogance that defined some of the club’s most successful managers.

Title-winners Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte oozed entitlement – even though in reality their swagger was hard earned – whilst Carlo Ancelotti exhibited a confident coolness.

To supporters, Chelsea’s image is just one more part of their identity next to the haul of trophies from the last 20 years.

Pochettino has the personality to satisfy certain of those requirements. Whether he can do it whilst matching the success of that glittering trio will be the true test.

Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland and his Hibernian counterpart Kevin Nisbet have both been included in the Scotland squad for the next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Norway and Georgia.

The Edinburgh-based pair take the places of Stoke’s Jacob Brown, who missed the end of the Championship season with a hamstring issue, and Southampton forward Che Adams, who recently suffered a recurrence of the ankle injury he sustained in Scotland’s win over Cyprus.

Shankland, who previously made four appearances in 2019 and 2020, was called back into the fold for the Spain game in March and he has kept his place at the end of a season in which he has scored 28 goals for Hearts.

Nisbet, who won all of his 10 caps in 2021, is recalled for the first time since damaging his anterior cruciate ligament in February 2022. The 26-year-old has scored 12 goals for Hibs since returning to action in December.

Rangers defender John Souttar is recalled after missing much of the season through injury. The 26-year-old, who has not played for the national team since last summer’s Nations League defeat in Ireland, takes the place of Norwich City centre-back Grant Hanley, who has been sidelined with an Achilles problem since early April.

Blackburn centre-back Dom Hyam has retained his place after earning a late call-up for the last camp in March, while Steve Clarke has opted for consistency in the goalkeeping department with Angus Gunn, Zander Clark and Liam Kelly again called up in the absence of Craig Gordon, who remains sidelined as he tries to fight back from a double leg-break sustained on Christmas Eve.

Scotland, who are top of Group A with two wins from their two games so far, face Norway in Oslo on Saturday, June 17 before welcoming Georgia to Hampden three days later.

Leeds manager Sam Allardyce said the club’s players had not been good enough after Sunday’s 4-1 home defeat to Tottenham sealed Premier League relegation.

Allardyce had been Leeds’ last throw of the dice with four games remaining, but after three defeats and a draw the 68-year-old was unable to mask the club’s systemic failings and save them.

He said: “Most of it comes down to how good are your players? These players have tried very hard while I’ve been here and I can’t fault their effort.

“But as a squad, they haven’t been good enough by the fact that they’re in the bottom three in the Premier League.

“I would have hoped I could have got a little bit more out of them, so I take responsibility for that.

“But it’s a tough old world when things start failing and when they start failing and confidence starts going then it’s very difficult to claw it back and we’ve been unable to do that.”

Leeds’ three-year stay in the top flight is over and Allardyce made it clear poor player recruitment had been the biggest factor in their demise.

“General recruitment is the number one factor for any manager or any coach or any head coach or any club to be successful,” he said.

“Without top-level recruitment, a manager and a coach and the staff are only as good as the players they have available and their ability.

“Actual quality is all about recruitment because better players and more intelligent players make you a better coach, make everybody at the club better, make it a happy club going forward.”

Leeds’ ultra-slim hopes of avoiding the drop on the final day appeared dashed in the only the second minute against Tottenham when Harry Kane fired the visitors into an early lead.

The Elland Road faithful responded with raucous defiance and that quickly turned to anger as they vented their fury at the Leeds board.

Leeds wasted several first-half chances and were duly punished – as they have been all season – when Pedro Porro put Tottenham 2-0 up with a brilliant angled finish two minutes into the second half.

Jack Harrison reduced the deficit, only for Kane to curl home his 30th league goal of the season two minutes later.

Tottenham substitute Lucas Moura then compounded Leeds’ misery when he waltzed through to add a fourth in stoppage time.

Leeds fans chanted ‘sack the board’ and called on chairman Andrea Radrizzani to sell his majority stake in the club to American co-owners 49ers Enterprises.

The financial arm of NFL franchise the San Francisco 49ers holds a 44 per cent stake with a deal in place to buy the remaining shares before January 2024.

But that was contingent on Leeds being in the top flight and relegation has muddied the waters.

Allardyce urged the club to quickly resolve their ownership issue, but it remains to be seen who will be in control as they bid to bounce straight back from the Sky Bet Championship.

“I haven’t said I’m staying yet so there’s a lot of discussion that needs (to be had) both ways on what’s going to happen,” Allardyce added.

“Whether that’s me or whoever that might be if it’s not me. I’m not committing myself to say I am or not staying just yet.”

Brentford boss Thomas Frank values goalkeeper David Raya at £40million.

Tottenham and Manchester United have been heavily linked with Spaniard Raya, who has a year left on his Bees contract having turned down a new one.

The 27-year-old kept his 12th clean sheet of the season in the 1-0 win against Manchester City on Sunday but Frank admits his future probably lies elsewhere.

“I think we only have one player for sale,” said Frank. “That’s the one that’s been talked about a lot, David. He costs £40million, I think I said.”

Frank himself is on the radar of bigger clubs having guided Brentford to a ninth-placed finish in their second season in the Premier League.

Other players, such as full-backs Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey, will also attract interest this summer.

But Frank added: “We are a selling club. I don’t think that’s a secret. But they need to be crazy high amounts for the players for anyone to leave.

“I’m pretty sure that everyone, including myself, is very happy here at Brentford.”

Ethan Pinnock’s 85th-minute goal saw the Bees became the only club to do the double over City this season.

The champions have bigger fish to fry, however, as they chase an historic treble with the FA Cup final against Manchester United to come next weekend, followed by the Champions League showpiece with Inter Milan on June 10.

Pep Guardiola left the likes of Erling Haaland, John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan on the bench and used the occasion to give 19-year-old Shea Charles his debut as a substitute.

“Shea Charles, against this team with top, top strikers, fast and strong, it’s not the easiest debut,” said the City boss.

“At the same time we didn’t play for points. We know him, he trains quite regularly with us. He’s so good, so composed.

“When you can make your debut, after joining the club aged nine, is the biggest compliment for all the managers he had and the trainers and those that take care of him. I’m pretty sure it was a big moment for him.”

Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti is set to leave the club after guiding them to their first Serie A title in 33 years.

President Aurelio De Laurentiis said that the 64-year-old, who took over the Partenopei in 2021, has asked to take a sabbatical and will leave the club with a year left on his contract.

“He’s a free man, now it’s right that he continues to do what he wants. I thank him,” De Laurentiis told Italian broadcaster Rai as reported by Sky Italy.

Napoli clinched their first title since 1990, when Diego Maradona led them to the Scudetto, with five games to spare.

Spalletti’s final game in charge is set to be at home to Sampdoria next Sunday.

Reports in Italy suggest Napoli will attempt to bring in former Barcelona and Spain head coach Luis Enrique to replace Spalletti.

A number of their star players such as top scorer Victor Osimhen and centre-back Kim Min-jae have been linked with moves away from Naples this summer, with a host of Premier League clubs among those reportedly interested.

Tony Docherty has left his role as Kilmarnock assistant to become manager of newly-promoted cinch Premiership side Dundee.

The 52-year-old is a surprise appointment as he has spent the majority of his coaching career as number two to Derek McInnes at St Johnstone, Bristol City, Aberdeen and Killie.

Docherty takes over from Gary Bowyer, who departed immediately after winning the Championship title earlier this month.

The Dees had spoken to former St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson, while Raith Rovers manager Ian Murray was also in contention, but the club declared on Monday that “after a full and thorough search process, Tony was the outstanding candidate. He has gained great respect as a coach and knows what is required to be successful in Scotland’s top flight.”

Technical director Gordon Strachan has worked with Docherty previously in the Scotland set-up. “Tony is a guy that has been there and done it in Scottish football, at a number of clubs alongside Derek,” he said.

“I had the privilege to witness Tony’s coaching skills first-hand when he joined the Scotland coaching team.

“We know that next season is a big one for the club and Tony knows what it takes to win matches in this league, and that’s what we need. I’m thrilled we’ve got Tony on-board.”

Managing director John Nelms added: “I am delighted with Tony’s appointment. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge of our game, having been in the dugout for over 750 matches including national team experiences, European nights, and trophy-lifting moments here domestically.

“Tony’s leadership, work ethic, and humility will go a long way to bringing Dundee success in the coming years.”

Docherty’s backroom team will be appointed in due course.

Leicester were relegated from the Premier League on Sunday seven years after being crowned champions of England.

The Foxes, also FA Cup winners in 2021, beat West Ham 2-1 at home on the final day of the season but Everton’s victory over Bournemouth condemned them to the second tier for the first time since 2013-14.

Here, the PA news agency examines some of the reasons why it went wrong.

Summer of discontent

For a club that had twice finished fifth – narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification – and eighth in Brendan Rodgers’ three full seasons in charge, there was an alarming drop in expectations at the start of the camapign. Summer cutbacks meant Rodgers was unable to significantly strengthen his squad, with chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha explaining Financial Fair Play and Covid had hit them hard. Central defender Wesley Fofana went to Chelsea for £70million before Rodgers could bring in any new recruits and the departure of title-winning goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, a huge character at the club for over a decade, hurt them badly.

Squad planning

Leicester had appeared to be the byword for shrewd planning for so long in English football after launching the stellar careers of title winners N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez. But eight players – Caglar Soyuncu, Daniel Amartey, Jonny Evans, Nampalys Mendy, Ryan Bertrand, Tete, Youri Tielemans and Ayoze Perez, who spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Real Betis – were out of contract at the end of the season. Belgium midfielder Tielemans, scorer of the FA Cup final winner against Chelsea, was nowhere near the levels he had shown after joining from Monaco in 2019. Deals for a further eight players are to expire next year, among them England attacking midfielder James Maddison who is now set to move on.

Post-World Cup blues

After a terrible start that saw Leicester anchored to the foot of the table with one point from seven games, their form picked up before the World Cup break with five wins in eight. But Leicester’s form nose-dived again when domestic football returned in December, taking just one point from 15. Evans was not fit to marshal a leaky defence and unconvincing Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward eventually lost his place to Daniel Iversen. Foxes great Jamie Vardy became increasingly marginalised and did not score a league goal for six months as a squad deemed ‘too good to go down’ hurtled towards a relegation scrap.

Was sacking Rodgers right call?

Rodgers adopted a negative tone to Leicester’s summer strife by insisting the target was 40 points and top-flight survival. The former Liverpool and Celtic boss, more familiar with competing at the top of the table rather than the bottom, almost grew more pessimistic by the week with selection inconsistencies and injury undermining the Foxes’ cause. Rodgers was eventually sacked on April 2 after defeat at Crystal Palace had dropped Leicester into the bottom three. After Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell spent two games in caretaker charge, Dean Smith took command for the last eight – but would Leicester have been better served backing Rodgers as Nottingham Forest and West Ham did with Steve Cooper and David Moyes?

The 1,084 goals scored in this season’s Premier League were a record for a 20-team season.

Abdoulaye Doucoure’s crucial goal for Everton against Bournemouth on Sunday, which clinched the Toffees’ survival, also meant the league surpassed the previous high of 1,072 in 2018-19.

Here, the PA news agency looks at how it happened.

2022-23

Erling Haaland has rewritten the individual record books and his exploits for Manchester City have now helped create a new league record as well.

The Norwegian’s 36 goals led the way, with Harry Kane a distant second in the Golden Boot race despite scoring 30 for Tottenham.

Ivan Toney netted 20 for Brentford before starting his eight-month betting suspension, with Mohamed Salah (19) and Callum Wilson (18) completing the top five.

Champions City were the league’s top scorers with 94 goals while long-time leaders Arsenal racked up 88.

Liverpool and Brighton cracked 70, as did Tottenham who scored and conceded more than 60 – their 2007-08 season was the only previous instance of a team doing so in the Premier League.

Every team contributed at least 30 to the tally, the first time that has happened since the 2012-13 campaign.

2018-19

City were again champions in the previous record season and contributed 95 themselves, a similar impact to this season.

The tally could have been even higher but for Ederson and his defence, with City conceding only 23 to finish with a goal difference of plus-72 – that ranks third in Premier League history, with City and Chelsea the only clubs ever to top 70.

Liverpool, who finished just a point behind City in the title race, scored 89 while Arsenal contributed 73. Three more teams topped 60 and a further six reached a half-century while only Huddersfield (22) came in under 30.

There was no Haaland equivalent driving the total but a host of players contributed at a high level – Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane and Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all shared the Golden Boot on 22, with Sergio Aguero just one behind for City, while a record 32 players reached double figures.

Best of the rest

Last season came up just one short of the previous record as seven teams broke the 60-goal barrier, with City and Liverpool on 99 and 94 respectively.

There were 1,066 in 2011-12, 1,064 in 2016-17 and only one fewer in 2010-11 and 2012-13.

Surprisingly 2017-18, when City scored 106 goals and Salah and Kane both hit the magical 30 mark individually, had only 1,018 goals in total as Huddersfield stayed up with 28, the same total as relegated Swansea, and Burnley finished seventh with only 36.

Indeed, none of the four seasons in which a team has hit a century figures particularly highly in the chart. City scored 102 of the league’s 1,034 in 2019-20 and Chelsea 103 of 1,053 in 2009-10. Even 2013-14, when City scored 102 and Liverpool 101, only saw 1,052 goals in total.

The league’s early 42-game seasons unsurprisingly featured higher overall tallies, with 1,222 in the inaugural 1992-93 campaign followed by back-to-back seasons with 1,195, but the average of 2.85 per game this term is the outright highest in the Premier League era.

The Premier League season came to an end on Sunday with Manchester City winning the title while Southampton, Leeds and Leicester were relegated.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the stand-out statistics from the season.

7 – Premier League titles for Manchester City, including five of the last six.

89 – points for Pep Guardiola’s side, five more than runners-up Arsenal.

5 – Guardiola has five Premier League titles to his name, second only to former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson’s 13. Eight of his players – Ederson, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden – have been part of the squad for all five.

36 – City striker Erling Haaland’s Premier League record goal tally, ending a run of three straight seasons in which 23 won the Golden Boot.

30 – goals for Tottenham’s Harry Kane, the second time he has reached that mark without winning the Golden Boot – a feat otherwise only achieved by Alan Shearer in 1993-94.

16 – Haaland’s team-mate De Bruyne led the assists chart, four clear of his nearest challengers Mohamed Salah and Leandro Trossard.

17 – clean sheets for Manchester United’s David De Gea as he won the league’s Golden Glove award for a second time.

1,084 – goals scored in this season’s top flight, a Premier League record.

248 – days Arsenal led the Premier League table, the most ever for a team who did not win the league. They won eight of their first nine games, with the club accounting for the last three examples of a team starting so well without winning the league having suffered similarly in 2004-05 and 2007-08.

21 – Newcastle finished in the top four for the first time in 21 years. They are only the second team from outside the league’s established ‘big six’ to qualify for the Champions League in the last 18 seasons, the other exception being Leicester’s memorable 2016 title win.

3 – all three promoted teams – Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest – avoided relegation, only the fourth time in the Premier League era that has been the case and the first since 2017-18.

60 – Tottenham became only the second team to both score and concede more than 60 goals in a Premier League season, after they themselves did so in 2007-08.

1 – Everton defender James Tarkowski was the only outfield player to play every minute of his side’s season, in addition to goalkeepers De Gea, Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya. Max Kilman was on track to achieve the same feat until being left on the bench for Wolves’ penultimate game against Everton.

6 – Wolves’ six red cards were twice as many as any other club, while their 84 yellows was jointly the most in the league alongside Forest and Leeds.

147 – Fulham’s Joao Palhinha was far and away the league’s leading tackler, with second-placed Moises Caicedo of Brighton on exactly 100.

2 – three players scored two own goals apiece – Leicester defender Wout Faes, in a seven-minute spell against Liverpool, Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen and Bournemouth’s Chris Mepham. Faes was only the fourth player to score two in a Premier League match.

9 – Liverpool’s 9-0 win over Bournemouth equalled the biggest in Premier League history.

9.11 – the Cherries’ Philip Billing scored the second-quickest goal in Premier League history, 9.11 seconds into their eventual 3-2 defeat to Arsenal.

15 – Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri became the league’s youngest ever player when he made his debut against Brentford in September, aged 15 years and 181 days.

Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti is set to leave the club after guiding them to their first Serie A title in 33 years.

President Aurelio De Laurentiis said that the 64-year-old, who took over the Partenopei in 2021, has asked to take a sabbatical and will leave the club with a year left on his contract.

“He’s a free man, now it’s right that he continues to do what he wants. I thank him,” De Laurentiis told Italian broadcaster Rai as reported by Sky Italy.

Napoli clinched their first title since 1990, when Diego Maradona led them to the Scudetto, with five games to spare.

Spalletti’s final game in charge is set to be at home to Sampdoria next Sunday.

Reports in Italy suggest Napoli will attempt to bring in former Barcelona and Spain head coach Luis Enrique to replace Spalletti.

A number of their star players such as top scorer Victor Osimhen and centre-back Kim Min-jae have been linked with moves away from Naples this summer, with a host of Premier League clubs among those reportedly interested.

David Martindale has hinted that some additional players could leave Livingston this summer after the club confirmed the names of six stars definitely on the way out.

The Lions boss had already revealed in recent weeks that captain Nicky Devlin – who has agreed to join Aberdeen – would depart under freedom of contract along with fellow first-team mainstays Jack Fitzwater and Stephane Omeonga.

And the West Lothian club announced on Monday, a day after their final cinch Premiership match against St Johnstone, that Jackson Longridge, Jaze Kabia and goalkeeper Brian Schwake – all of whom have been out on loan over the past season – will also move on.

There could yet be more players heading for the exit door, though, with Martindale trying to trim his squad to free up space for new recruits.

“It goes without saying that I offer my thanks and very best wishes to those players moving on this Summer,” the manager told the Lion website.

“I’ve spoken to other players still under contract with the club and explained that some won’t be in my plans next season and that they are free to speak with other clubs if the opportunity arises.”

Livingston had high hopes of finishing in the top six of the cinch Premiership after a promising first half of their campaign but they ended up eighth after losing nine and winning only three of their last 14 league games.

Mikel Arteta has challenged Arsenal to improve and show they are the real deal again next season.

The Gunners ended a campaign of obvious progress with a 5-0 thrashing of Wolves on the final day, which meant they finished only five points behind champions Manchester City.

Arsenal had been top of the Premier League for 248 days before a run of two wins in eight fixtures during the closing weeks of the season saw their title quest end on the penultimate weekend.

Finishing as runners-up behind City means Champions League football will return to the Emirates for the first time since 2017 and, while Arteta was delighted to achieve their initial goal this season, he is well aware of the work required to kick on this summer.

“We wanted to bring the club back to the Champions League, that was the main target,” he said.

“That was obviously a big demand in the summer before we did certain things and before we managed to keep some of our players.

“Then the journey started and day by day, you start to have a feeling that the team is moving in the right direction and the energy and spirit is really good. Then you start to generate some belief.

“We didn’t expect to finish where we are. I think it’s the third best record in the club, with the history of the club, the most wins ever.

“It’s a lot but it’s still not enough to win it. We understand where the level is. If we want to be the real deal, we can’t be happy with what we have, and we have to be next season much better.

“I think we have some great foundations, that is true but in sport you have to prove it again.

“You have to be back in the first day of pre-season and look at each other and I don’t want to see any complacency or, ‘we’ve done really well and its OK’.

“We are going to have to be much better. It will be a challenging season but a season with plenty of opportunities and one of those opportunities is to be consistent, to do it again and be better. This is what we have to demand from each other.”

Gabriel Jesus was on target against Wolves with Bukayo Saka, Jakub Kiwior and Granit Xhaka also scoring, the latter netting twice in what is expected to be his final appearance for Arsenal.

Jesus’ second-half header ensured he finished his debut campaign for the Gunners with 11 goals and he is excited about the direction the club are heading.

He told the official club website: “It was good. Unfortunately, we didn’t win a trophy which was our target, but I think we had a good season, very good.

“We are building a good atmosphere from inside and outside, the fans coming with us always supporting, pushing us.

“I am so excited (for next season). I was a little bit unlucky about my injury, I missed a big part of the season but my mentality has always been my fitness and then to help my team, so next my main target is to be fit all season and help my team.”

There remains a large degree of uncertainty for Wolves ahead of next season with boss Julen Lopetegui revealing Joao Moutinho, Adama Traore and Diego Costa could leave on free transfers due to the club’s financial problems.

“This is a problem. You have players that you want to re-sign but you can’t because it is like a new signing in the financial terms,” the Spaniard explained.

“I am not a financial adviser, I am a coach. We will see.

“I know the sporting directors, they have to work very, very hard these five months and they have different targets for the squad but to execute any target, you need to know how much money you have. If not, it is impossible.”

Jude Bellingham has been named the Bundesliga’s player of the season.

The England midfielder won the award just two days after his club Borussia Dortmund missed out on the Bundesliga title to Bayern Munich on goal difference.

Bellingham has made more than 130 appearances since joining Dortmund from Birmingham for just over £20million three years ago.

“Every year or half year that I’ve played at the club, my responsibility in the team has increased,” Bellingham was quoted as saying on the official Bundesliga website.

“I have to continue to be everywhere on the pitch and try my best to contribute going forwards and backwards and try and control games, try to dominate the midfield.

“My teammates, the coaches and the staff have helped me to develop.

“I came to the club as a talented lad, but I have added elements to my game that have taken it to the next level and I think that’s down to them, mainly.”

Bellingham, who turns 20 next month, captained Dortmund this season to become the club’s youngest-ever skipper and scored 14 goals in all competitions.

He has been strongly linked to a move away from Germany this summer, with Real Madrid reportedly leading the race for his signature.