Mikel Arteta: I don't know when but Arsenal will win the title again
Mikel Arteta is certain Arsenal will eventually win the Premier League title after they missed out to Manchester City for the second year running.
Arsenal ended the season with a 2-1 win over Everton but it was not enough to overhaul Pep Guardiola's side, who beat West Ham 3-1 at the Etihad to clinch a fourth consecutive league title and sixth in seven seasons.
Afterwards, an upbeat Arteta urged his players not to feel "sorry for ourselves" and raise their level again next season.
"If we do what we have to do, we're going to be closer and at the end we'll win [the title]," said the Spaniard, who started his post-match press conference by congratulating his former club City on another championship. "When, I don't know. But if we keep knocking and being that close, in the end it will happen.
Most important [plan for the summer] is how we are going to get these players to a different level
Mikel Arteta
"There’s only one way to do it: you have to be more determined, you have to be more ambitious, you have to have a lot of courage and push every limit in everything that we have. That’s the next step.
"First one and most important [plan for the summer] is how we are going to get these players to a different level. That is my first job and after that. If visulating that, we still don't have enough to do that, for sure we will have to do everything we can to fulful those gaps [with new signings]."
Arsenal's 89 points was just one short of the Invincibles' total from 2003-04 and would have been enough to win the league ahead of City last season.
Arteta believes in future Arsenal may need to match the 100 points City won in 2017-18 to be champions.
"When you look in the last 15 to 20 years of this league, the competition wasn't like it is today and for sure [89 points] you are champion," he said.
"But it is not enough. This is as well probably we are getting better and better and better and faster because someone is so good that you have to chase it. That is what makes you good as well. That's it. We cannot feel sorry for ourselves guys. We tried, we are improving. It was an unbelieveable season again but we are not champions and that is the reality.
"I was there [as assistant manager] when [City] did 100 points so I know what it takes," he added.
"I know what happened and this is the level. No one has to explain what the level is because I was there four years every day and I know what we have to do if we are going to reach there. Not only for one season, but for the rest, but we are on the right path, the right journey and to see the evolution so quickly happening, I haven't seen it before. So, we're on the right trajectory and now we need really to pull the teeth and bite into it because we really want more."
What happened last Tuesday, maybe we could have been champions
Mikel Arteta on Man City win at Tottenham
Arteta picked out his side's 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa - their only loss in the League this year - and City's 2-0 win at Tottenham on Tuesday as the decisive moments in the title race.
"For sure, Aston Villa at home," he said, when asked if there was a particular match which felt pivotal. "In the first half it should have been 4-0.
"Maybe the story would have been different. What happened last Tuesday, maybe we could have been champions. These are the margins that are so, so, so small. That’s the credit that the club and the team should take. We’re doing this against the best team in the history of the Premier League by far."
Goals from Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kai Havertz earned Arsenal a deserved win over the Toffees who took a first-half lead through Idrissa Gueye.
"Today some mixed emotions," said Arteta. "First of all, to be really proud of the staff and those players. They’ve done an incredible job and they have pushed every limit and every margin that we could to try to win this Premier League. Unfortunately it a bit short and we couldn’t deliver the prize that we wanted."
