In the end, it wasn’t to be.
Arsenal rounded off the 2023/24 campaign with a 2-1 win against Everton but hopes of a first Premier League title in 20 years were crushed by Manch115ter City who eased past West Ham at the Etihad to secure the trophy for a fourth consecutive year.
At the Emirates, frustration and disappointment quickly gave way to pride and optimism as manager Mikel Arteta struck a defiant note in his post-game interviews.
Here’s what was said after the match.
Mikel Arteta on his emotions…
First of all congratulations to Manchester City for winning the Premier League, it’s unbelievable what they have done. Since December we’ve been on an incredible journey with every performance has been at the highest level we have seen and it still wasn’t enough, this is the level. Today is mixed emotions, first of all to be really proud of those players, the staff they have done an incredible job, they have pushed every limit, every margin that we could find to try to win this Premier League and unfortunately it was a bit short. We could not deliver the big prize that we wanted, you can feel it that they are desperate for it.
Source: Post-game press conference
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Sean Dyche on his side’s performance…
It was a right and proper performance for what we want to do for ourselves and for our fans. There was a lot of noise around the game for obvious reasons but, once again, we’ve come to a place like this and delivered a performance that can find a way to win, as tough as that is in these places. Unfortunately, a really poor decision, in my opinion, goes against us. They had a couple of chances before that, as had we, but it was a poor decision for me and, unfortunately, we don’t end the season with an unbeaten run.
Source: Everton FC
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Kai Havertz on his immediate feelings…
“What can I say? I feel sorry for all the Arsenal fans. We gave our best but it wasn’t enough. Maybe in two or three months, we can say it was a good fight. Right now I feel like we deserve more. It wasn’t enough in the end but we go again next year. Right now I can’t even think. It’s just so frustrating. It’s tough. I can tell them next year that we’re going to be an even better team and we’re going to give everything again. That’s all I can say.”
Source: TNT Sports
Arsenal (2.92) 2-1 (0.52) Everton
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) May 19, 2024
Mikel Arteta on the relationship with the supporters…
That’s the most fulfilling thing. One of the dreams I had when I joined was to reconnect everybody, to really bring this place to a different level. We are on that journey right now. I feel sad because I really wanted to deliver that trophy today, because it would mean the world to them, but we are closer that’s for sure.
Source: TNT Sports
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Martin Odegaard on Arsenal coming back stronger…
Yeah, definitely. We’ve taken good steps every season. First, we missed out on the Champions League. We came back and we were close to winning [the league]. And now even more close. So, as I said, it’s just a matter of time for this team that we’re going to win something really big. We’re a young team still, we’re just going to get better and better. I’m sure we’re going to come back even more hungry and bounce back again.
Source: TNT Sports
William Saliba played 4,502 out of a possible 4,680 minutes in all competitions for #Arsenal this season (96%), the most minutes played by an #AFC outfielder since Per Mertesacker in 2013-14 (4,725). https://t.co/VyKYB2wa19
— Harvey Downes (@HarveyDownes92) May 19, 2024
Arteta on Arsenal looking forward to next season…
For sure. Now we have to analyse what we’ve done, why we have made so many steps and the way we are progressing and where the club is at the moment. Now we really have to show our teeth and a lot of ambition, be very determined, have a lot of courage and look ways to improve.
Source: Sky Sports
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Arteta on believing Arsenal will win the Premier League
If we do what we have to do we’re going to be closer, and at the end we will win it, when? I don’t know, if we keep knocking and being that close at the end it will happen.
Source: Post-game press conference
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Jurrien Timber on his long-awaited return to action
I felt good after so many months of hard work, but on the other hand, we didn’t become champions today and that’s sad. It’s a hard one to take. I just wanted to give some energy to the team. It was still 1-1 and there were still enough chances to win the game, so I tried to do that it’s just a nice feeling to be back.
Source: Arsenal.com
Arsenal have scored 124 goals against Everton, the most by any team against any opponent in Premier League history #ARSEVE
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) May 19, 2024
Micah Richards on where Arsenal improve…
It is a brilliant young team and there is more to come at Arsenal. Kai Havertz has done well. Gabriel Jesus has probably not played at a level which we expected him to when he left Manchester City. If you are looking on how they can improve, they need to get a striker who can score all type of goals. Even when Erling Haaland hasn’t played at his best, he has scored goals.
Source: Sky Sports
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Thierry Henry on Arsenal’s future title hopes…
They beat City this year, they didn’t concede a goal against City, but we lost twice against Villa. West Ham at home, but Villa, we lost 1-0 there, we lost 2-0 at home. It’s not only beating City that will give you the title. We’re not going to collapse hopefully, because when a team tries to follow City for more than two years they collapsed. What [Mikel Arteta] did is second to none in terms of bringing the team back and having the fans believing, now consistency is key.
Source: Premier League
William Saliba played 4,502 out of a possible 4,680 minutes in all competitions for #Arsenal this season (96%), the most minutes played by an #AFC outfielder since Per Mertesacker in 2013-14 (4,725). https://t.co/VyKYB2wa19
— Harvey Downes (@HarveyDownes92) May 19, 2024
Michael Owen on the run-in…
[For Arsenal] to put in them numbers and still not win the league, it just goes to show just how good Man City are. I’ve looked so many times at the remaining fixtures and thought ‘there’ll be a slip-up there maybe,’ they just don’t slip up. As soon as the pressure cranks up, as soon as we call it ‘the run-in,’ they go into overdrive, they’ve got gears.
Source: Premier League
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Pep Guardiola on Arsenal pushing City…
We get their message and I know they will be there for many years because they have a young manager – a big talent – and a great young team. They sent us a message that we have to be careful for the coming years.
Source: Sky Sports
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑-𝟐𝟒: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟑𝟕 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 📈
With 2023-24 at an end, the brilliant team at @OptaJoe have reviewed the season.
⌛️ Latest goals
🩼 Worst starts
💪 Hefty xG totals
♾ … and everything in betweenHere are the best facts… ⬇️
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) May 19, 2024
Next year! COYG.
Totally. For me this feels like the film ‘the damned united’ which is ultimately a story about failure. But at the end of it, when Clough had been sacked and humiliated and was a laughing stock, the footnote reads “Brian Clough went on to win back-to-back European trophies with Nottingham Forest and is considered one of the greatest managers of all time”. This season feels a lot like that. It’s been fantastic and exhilarating but also painful and frustrating. But this will be nothing more than a footnote for this club and this manager. I’ve never been so sure of… Read more »
We go again next season and will beat 115 charges fc. BELIEVE
Axe Nketiah. Agree ?
Yes but do we have to talk about it RIGHT now? Maybe let’s give this team its flowers a bit first and let emotions sink in before starting to talk about who to axe?
“They sent us a message that we have to be careful for the coming years.”
Yes, the 115 charges are looming.
I want to believe that the authorities have something in store for Cheaty (severe punishment, that is.) Unfortunately, I don’t see them getting anything other than a slap on the wrist.
I swing back and forth between hope and despair. I guess we’ll know when we know and until then there’s only speculation. If they aren’t dealt with severely I reckon it’ll be a serious serious blow to the PL. The PL may have no choice but to hit them hard in order to protect it’s own brand.
Or the pl puts their pr machine behind city in the same way other leagues have done for their chosen standout team, because the stakes for all of them are too great if city are held to account
I wouldn’t put that past them either. If that happens then I reckon it’s time for serious contemplation whether PL football is worth my time and money anymore. I know they won’t care, moving away from it would be entirely for my own sake.
I couldn’t even enjoy the match yesterday because of the broadcaster cutting in with highlights of the other game… which they also were broadcasting on a different channel. The tv are pushing city so hard here in the states, and never a mention of charges.
Between the media failing to do it’s job and the nuance trolling regarding said charges, its looking like nothing will be done
There was a long, serious discussion of the charges as a shadow hanging over Man City’s triumph on the USA feed after the matches were over.
Yes it was infuriating that after the Arsenal match, they did a split screen to shove Man City’s celebrations in our faces. Those celebrations were already on another channel that anyone watching the Arsenal match could have turned to if they felt like it.
I turned the whole thing off when they did that, so I had to miss Arsenal’s players and fans interacting, applauding, and commiserating after the season-ending match.
Same here. Switched it right off and went out in the sunshine instead.
Probably a small points deduction on the season they pull their finger out and do something about it.
Should be relagated and stripped of trophies if they are found guilty, but won’t be.
I tend to agree, I mean the Premier League allowed Chelsea to flaunt its tepid regulations for the entirety of the Abramovitch era so why not prevaricate until Pep leaves and it all goes away?
Honestly, to me, it doesn’t matter when Man Shitty win, only when they lose. Could not care less what any of them have to say about anything. One of the perks of my being a grown-ass man.
It matters to me that had it not been for them getting away with their cheating it would have been our win this season. The fact that they will enter their third session of dodging the charges is nothing short of disgusting. One of the perks of me having a well developed sense of right and wrong.
Ha! I totally deserved that rebuke. I was trying to be pithy and was merely being a twat. What doesn’t matter to me is what Man City or pundits have to say about how great they are. They ARE great. They’re also bent. I see that they are wrong. I think the whole PL is bent, frankly. I’m just happy that Arsenal played so well and that Arteta has so much integrity. I’m happy that despite the bentness of it all Arsenal nearly won the league, the right way. They had it in their hands til Villa. So when they… Read more »
I love these lads, and I have no doubt we will push again next year.
I hate City.
Owned by cunts, managed by a cunt, played for by cunts and supported by cunts.
I hate them too!
When did they get supporters? Those must have been expensive
Those two monobrow wankers who polluted the world with their shite band, Oasis, are lifelong fans. Speaks volumes if you ask me.
Something tells me that they’ll fuck right off to PSG or some similar plastic garbage of a club the moment C115y gets what it deserves. Oh, and I don’t agree that it’ll just be a slap on the wrist this time. Hoardes of people will switch to other leagues and that means shitloads of money from TV revenue which mathematically are more than what the plastic playtoy of an outhouse club does. At the very least, they’ll start crippling them rendering them unable to ever win a thing again. A shitstorm is coming for them and it’s not going to… Read more »
But we got to admit one thing, the owners of Arsenal are not nice people either.
👏👏👏
I don’t think we could have better, to be honest. I really like Josh, I think for a billionaires son he’s turned out very well, he’s also played basketball so he knows about team dynamics. Since the buyout from Usmanov the Kronkes have been really supportive of the club, Mikel and the team so I have no complaints. It really could be a lot worse.
“It really could be a lot worse.”
Like Usmanov for example.
Careful.
Usmanov has injunctions out.
You’ll be boiled alive, allegedly, perhaps metaphorically, if you breach them.
I would have thought he had so many sanctions against him after Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine that he’s virtually a man on the run nowadays.
I don’t know why you are getting downvoted. Stan’s backing comes from marrying the heiress to Walmart, a company which pays its full time workers so poorly that they have to use government support to survive. There are very few, if any, “good” billionaires. To be a billionaire you need to push down on those below you, eventually crushing those at the bottom.
I hope I’m being a glass half-empty guy but while I enjoyed this season more than any other in the past 20 years, I feel we are still kind of overperforming and it wasn’t meant to be this year. For all the points and records this season, it was always clear than City had the better squad and was the best team, probably in Europe. Rodri’s comments stating we only wanted a draw at the Etihad are also interesting from that perspective. So I think we should be happy, we’re growing fast, but next year will be extremely difficult and… Read more »
If the fact we only wanted a draw there were damning, what does it say about them that they also played us there for a draw, at THEIR home? And also at ours. It’s a bunch of bollocks, they won because they were more consistent from start to finish and lost less points against bad teams while we took time to figure ourselves out, not because they had more of a “killer instinct” or whatever other sports cliché gets thrown around.
It’s very frustrating to know that we probably did win the premier league yesterday, we just don’t know it yet. There is no way City aren’t being docked at least 2 points. The record books will eventually show we won – and rightfully so because City’s relentless cheating is why they finished above us – but we won’t get to celebrate it. I always felt sorry Liverpool that they finally won their title when nobody was allowed in the stadiums, but this is even worse. We won. We are absolutely the rightful winners. But we won’t ever get the credit,… Read more »
IF City do get punished, it won’t be retrospectively. If that’s the case, then we won the league last season too..
They will probably start the following season at minus points… preferably -115 so they fight for relegation or get relegated altogether!! 😂
And Liverpool the year before that. I think you’re right, that’s what will happen. But it absolutely shouldn’t be. If they get found guilty, I just can’t see how their titles could possibly stand. You can’t say “you were cheating for a decade, winning because you were cheating and nobody else was, but it’s cool, just don’t do it again”. Lance Armstrong is the obvious comparison, but what City did is far worse. It’s arguable that Armstrong wasn’t even gaining an advantage – literally every cyclist was doping, the tour de france was not much more than a “who can… Read more »
If and when City are eventually stripped of their ill gotten titles and the runner ups are rightfully awarded theirs I will heartily celebrate and give full credit for our and Liverpool’s achievements. The victory is no less merited for having been delayed in its reveal.
Unai Emery is the guy, set us back when he was manager, then beat us twice this season when one win would have given us the PL title. Hope he retires soon….
Can’t really blame the guy for beating us. Although not even trying against City is another matter.
A good season in my view with some games we should not have lost. Hopefully better next season but in my view there are two factors that will not make any team Premier Legue Champions: Xg and that stupid ‘Super Computer’.
Neither guarantees success, for that a club need consistency.
So much to be optimistic about for next year and beyond: so many key stars signed contract extensions Timber will be like a new signing and will bring so much versatility Havertz really showed what he brings to the team and was excellent the whole second half of the season Odegaard, Saka, Rice, Saliba, etc. will only get better Jesus played injured most of the year and if can bring so much more if healthy Tomiyasu finally had a consistent run in the side and showed how valuable and versatile he is Martinelli had an off year and will surely… Read more »
Also it’s worth mentioning ARSEBLOG, those superb writers who call it as it is, with great wit and their masterful use of conveying in a language we all relate to, the By Numbers, Player Rate, Live text, Podcast, Interlull, Extra column is by far the best out there, I’ve looked and No other team blog comes close, A Massive Thanks to all who have contributed this season on this wonderful forum, it’s where I get my Arsenal news 1st and I love the banter and posts of my fellow supporters, alas sadly our Arsenal failed by such a short margin… Read more »
Why on earth did you give that scouse twonk owen any page time. I’d rather read what the blind, one-legged cat women who lives under the bridge had to say, than him.
I’d just like to take this opportunity, if I may, to point out what an utterly deluded bitter twat Dyche is. Thank you.