Mikel Arteta pinpoints when Arsenal lost the title race to Man City

Mikel Arteta has named the three games where he believes Arsenal handed the Premier League title to Manchester City.

Arsenal emerged as surprise title contenders last season, topping the table for a whopping 248 days before a late collapse allowed City to claim part one of their historic treble.

The Gunners won just three of their last nine games of the campaign, with a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on the penultimate weekend officially handing the trophy to the Citizens.

Prior to that, they had suffered embarrassing losses to City and Brighton by scorelines of 4-1 and 3-0 respectively.

But the awful run of form kicked off with three consecutive draws: 2-2 at Liverpool, 2-2 at West Ham and 3-3 against Southampton at the Emirates.

And Arteta believes that it was these three results and the manner in which they happened that ultimately killed off Arsenal’s title challenge, with his side throwing away 2-0 leads against the Reds and the Irons before struggling against the woeful Saints who finished bottom of the table.

‘A lot of things [were missing to get over the line],’ the Spaniard told Marca.

‘We were penalised for those three draws we had in a row and all the misfortunes that happened.

‘There were three or four injuries to important players and from then on, everything got complicated. When we had the full team we were consistent. As soon as problems came it wasn’t enough for us.’

Injuries to key players, especially William Saliba, had a huge effect on the side and as a result it is no surprise to see Arteta delve back into transfer market to strengthen his squad.

Several big, expensive names are expected to arrive at the Emirates this summer, with Kai Havertz set to join from Chelsea, while a deal for West Ham captain Declan Rice is in the works.

Of course, Arsenal’s collapse wasn’t the only reason why City won the title, with Pep Guardiola’s side near-unstoppable following the turn of the year, winning 29 and losing just four of their 39 games across all competitions since the end of the World Cup.

Arteta added: ‘And then our opponent was the best team in the world; the best squad in the world; the best coach in the world. We had to accept that and shake hands with the champions.’

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