- Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s boss on Thursday said that the position of the club in Premier League mirrors their underachievement this season as they prepare to finish lower than they have in 25 years.
“We haven’t been consistent. Obviously, there have been a lot of issues in the background, a lot of things that had happened, but at the end of the day we weren’t good enough to be with the top teams,” Arteta explained.
Arsenal, 10th, host relegation-threatened Watford on the seasons’final day. Arteta’s side cannot finish higher than eighth, their lowest position since finishing 12th in 1994-1995.
Following the sucking of Unai Emery, Arteta was appointed in December taking over from interim coach Freddie Ljungberg when the club was 11th in the standings. But he wasn’t able to bridge the gap to the top four in spite of guiding them to more wins.
“It shows the big room for improvement and the gap that’s still there that has to be minimized really, really quickly in order to be in a good position to challenge those teams.
“It hurts so much (to say that) because when I said it’s a beautiful challenge from my side to bring the club into those positions again, I know how difficult it’s going to be.”
“For me, this club deserves the best, and you have to be fighting for every title,” he said.
Arteta said it will not be a satisfying end if they qualify for Europa league by finishing eight and winning the FA Cup next month.
“Obviously after everything that happened, if we’re able to win the final and qualify for Europe, we can say that it’s OK. But it’s not the level for this football club.”
