Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta, has said that Liverpool winning the Premier League title had hurt him ‘big time’ and he only watched a ‘small part’ of their title celebrations.
Arne Slot’s men were crowned league champions last weekend with four games to spare after defeating Tottenham 5-1.
When asked if it hurt missing out on Liverpool, Arteta said: ‘Yeah, big time.
‘It was in my tummy [that it hurt], yeah. I understand that it’s a team that is being more consistent and it has a lot of ingredients that you need to win it, but it’s very painful, yeah.
‘I take the opportunity as well to congratulate Liverpool and what they’ve done, the management they’ve done, how consistent they’ve been. I think they fully deserve to win.
‘They were the better team, they had so many attributes, they had a consistent squad available. And we’re going to try again. But up to that moment next season, now we’re going to have to finish the season very strong.’
The Spaniard went on to explain the pain of watching the Reds celebrate their title scalp.
‘[I watched] a small part of it (Liverpool’s celebrations),’ he added.
‘It can be part of your motivation, that’s not the biggest part. My motivations are much more focused in other aspects than that one, but it hurts to watch it, that’s for sure.’
