Arteta vows to push every limit in chase of former boss
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta following the Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium, London. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.
EMOTIONAL does not come close to describing events here in north London. Fanatical chants, flashing fireworks, mega loud music and the intoxicating smell from a red and white cloud of smoke made for one of the best pre-match atmospheres Arsenal have ever experienced. Less than 20 minutes later talk of Phil Foden’s two goals were echoing around the ground like a tortuous game of Chinese whispers. Man City were winning. The party was over before it really started.
Thankfully, for everyone who made the effort to get here for a celebration, a late Kai Havertz goal made for a party mood at the end. But it felt almost funereal when Idrissa Gueye's deflected free-kick put Everton ahead and was not much better even when Takehiro Tomiyasu equalised before half-time, even though there was a whiff of a West Ham comeback by then.
Statistically, it all added up to Arsenal’s best season in the Premier League in terms of wins and goals – better even than the Invincibles – and the crowd stayed long after the final whistle to show Mikel Arteta and his players just how much they appreciated that.
With no trophy, plaudits for taking the title race to the wire were of little solace to Arteta and his dejected-looking players.
Captain Martin Odegaard spoke on their behalf, saying: "I think we’re all a little bit disappointed. We’ve been fighting for so long for the big dream. We were so close. I’m so proud of the boys, so proud of the team, the fans. We’ve changed the club and I think you all believe in us now."
Arteta followed and his voice was cracking with emotion when he addressed his players and supporters on the pitch afterwards. He tried to redirect the outpouring of love and devotion aimed at him to his players and said: "All this is happening because you (our supporters) started believing. You started to be patient and started to understand what we tried to do. All the credit has to go to the players and the staff," he said. "Don't be satisfied. We want much more than that and we’re going to get it."
Arteta worked as Pep Guardiola’s wingman at City for four years and knows new heights may be needed to stop his old boss.
“I was at City there when we did 100 points. I know nobody has to explain what the level is. I was there. We are on the right path and the right journey. We need to put the teeth and bite into it. We will win it. When? I do not know but we will.”
Reaching out as if to grasp a water bottle just beyond his reach, he added: “Now we see City there and they took it away from us. It’s the second season. There’s only one way to do it. We have to push every limit.
“We've beat every record this club ever had apart from winning it. This is the most competitive league ever in the history and we have to be better. Now we need to find ways we have to improve."
Arteta pointed to defeat here to Aston Villa last month as the killer blow, if only because they had dominated the match and could just as easily have won by three or four. December losses to West Ham and Fulham, the Craven Cottage loss perhaps their only really below-par match all season, were just as costly.
A day of reckoning for City's 115 charges may yet be the only way to stop them in their tracks. Arteta wants to do it on the pitch, though, and even beaten Everton manager Sean Dyche conceded to enjoying the action this season.
“It was a really powerful season for the sides that are up there. It was very exciting to see it go all the way to today. Deep down everyone thought City would see it through, but you never know.”
Dyche gave Everton gave plenty to cheer about at the end of a season in which they have beaten the drop despite being hit by two points deductions for their financial misdemeanours.
Asked to comment on Guardiola’s City not being brought to task before winning a record fourth consecutive title, he added: “I’m not here to talk about other clubs. We’ve been through our own challenges. It just feels that we seemed to be harshly treated. I won’t question others. It’s up to them. I don’t know the legalities of the whys and wherefores. I know nothing about law and lawyers and how timescales affect things, but for me, any punishment should be off-season, in the summer. I think it gives everyone a level playing field. The idea of integrity and a level playing field, it’s very hard to have it taken off you.”
Raya 6; White 6 (Timber 69), Saliba 7, Gabriel 6 (Zinchenko 59), Tomiyasu 7; Rice 6, Partey 6 (Smith Rowe 69), Odegaard 7; Trossard 6 (Jesus 78), Martinelli 7, Havertz.
Pickford 6, Coleman 6, Tarkowski 6, Branthwaite 7, Young 6, Garner 6, Gueye 7, Onana 6, McNeil 7, Doucoure 6 (Beto 92), Calvert-Lewin 6 (Chermiti 75).
Ref: Michael Oliver 6
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