Premier League

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1 (Awoniyi, 19)
ARSENAL 0

MIKEL Arteta did his best to shield his young players after Arsenal’s failed, albeit unexpected, Premier League title challenge ended “in pain” and “sadness”.

In the end rivals Manchester City were crowned champions without even kicking a ball after the Gunners slipped to a 1-0 defeat away to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Taiwo Awoniyi’s 19th-minute goal was enough to seal victory for Steve Cooper’s side at the City Ground, sparking jubilant scenes from the home supporters as Forest secured their top-flight survival.

The Gunners knew they needed to win to keep the title race alive, but they put in arguably their most listless performance of the campaign as an unfamiliar formation – that saw Thomas Partey in a hybrid right-back role and Jakub Kiwior at left-back – failed to match Forest’s work rate and determination.

“It’s a really sad day and there are a lot of difficult emotions,” Arteta admitted after the final whistle. “Obviously because we lost the game and we lost the championship after 10 and a half months fighting for it.

“I know that we have built an illusion, enthusiasm and belief that we could go all the way and win it, and we fell short. So congratulations to Manchester City, they’re the champions and they deserve to be the champions. They’ve done it for 38 games and we haven’t been able to do that.

“That’s it, and from my side I apologise because we have generated belief that we could do it, and at the end the team wasn’t able to do it, and that is my responsibility. It’s my responsibility. At the end, I am responsible for the team to score many more goals than the opponents, and we haven’t done that in the last few weeks.

“Today is painful, we’re here to win, I’m here to win, I want to win, I love winning, I love what everybody does at this club to win, these people deserve to win, and when you don’t get there it’s painful, this is how I feel today.

“I value a lot what the players have done, everybody here, but when you are there it’s the next step, you have to win and we fell short.”

Arsenal will now set their sights on giving fans a cheerful send-off for the summer on Sunday when they take on Wolves at the Emirates Stadium on the final day of the season.

All eyes will then quickly turn to adding some much-needed strength-in-depth to their squad ahead of their next campaign, that will bring with it a long-awaited return to Champions League football.

Nottingham Forest: Navas (Hennessey, 90+9), Aurier, Worrall, Felipe (Boly, 79), Niakhate, Yates, Mangala, Danilo (Kouyate, 73), Lodi, Gibbs-White, Awoniyi (Johnson, 79)
Substitutes not used: Toffolo, Surridge, Freuler, Dennis, A Ayew

Arsenal: Ramsdale, Partey, White, Gabriel, Kiwior (Tierney, 63), Xhaka (Nketiah, 63), Jorginho, Odegaard, Saka, Trossard (Vieira, 70), Jesus
Substitutes not used: Turner, Holding, Bandeira, Cozier-Duberry, Walters, Smith Rowe