Arsenal boss refuses to revel in final-day success
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists neither he or his players are celebrating the fact that they finished second, above local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, in the Premier League.
The Gunners were 1-0 up, as news spread around the Emirates that Tottenham were trailing to relegated Newcastle United, before Spurs went on to suffer a thumping 5-1 defeat to 10-man Newcastle.
Until the end of April, there was a good chance Tottenham could snatch the league title from eventual winners Leicester City, only for a defeat at bitter rivals Chelsea, to end their title hopes.
And the target since their title failure was confirmed was for Mauricio Pochettino’s men to finish second, above Arsenal for the first time since since Wenger took charge in 1996.
However, that was not achieved, and Arsenal’s poor campaign was made to look like rather more a success, finishing second, above Spurs, who up until recent weeks had been performing admirably.
“We finished second in the league but we wanted to be first.” said Wenger.
“We want to win more.
“We don’t start the season thinking we want to finish above Tottenham, we start the season thinking we want to win the league. For a while we believed we could do it.
“But I think we kept going until the end. The only target before the game was to finish second and we achieved it, so at least today the supporters had some satisfaction.”
Arsenal had long been out of the title race, while there top-four position was never really under threat, like it was for Manchester City.
However, despite Spurs’ less than pretty ending to the season, they will automatically qualify for next season’s Champions League, unlike the Citizens, who will have to play a qualifying fixture to ensure they reach the group stages of the competition.
