Manchester City were crowned Champions of England for a fifth time in six years after Arsenal lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal came into the game having seen their title challenge evaporate in recent weeks, and anything other than a victory would confirm Manchester City’s third consecutive Premier League title.
They came up against a Nottingham Forest side fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table, Steve Cooper’s side knowing a win would secure their Premier League status.
The hosts took the lead in the 19th minute as Martin Odegaard uncharacteristically gave the ball away in midfield. Morgan Gibbs-White picked it up and drove towards goal, before the midfielder slipped it through to Taiwo Awoniyi, who, under a challenge from Gabriel, fired past Aaron Ramsdale.
Unsurprisingly, Arsenal dominated possession at the City Ground, though despite ending the first half having had just 19% of the ball, the relegation battlers certainly looked hungry and determined to defend their advantage.
Arsenal’s dominance of the ball continued after the break, though in truth, they hardly threatened Keylor Navas in the Nottingham Forest goal, with the East Midlands holding on for a victory that secured their Premier League status, and confirmed Manchester City as champions.
Before the game, Mikel Arteta said his side wouldn’t ‘bottle it’ in their final two fixtures, though the defeat today means that the Gunners have picked up just nine points from their last eight fixtures, and speaking afterwards, the Arsenal boss said his side were not good enough.
Since Pep Guardiola took over at @ManCity
2016/17 – 3rd
2017/18 – 🏆
2018/19 – 🏆
2019/20 – 2nd
2020/21 – 🏆
2021/22 – 🏆
2022/23 – 🏆 pic.twitter.com/S11Cvf5WbV— The Football Faithful (@FootyFaithfuI) May 20, 2023
“First of all congratulations to Manchester City for winning the championship but it is a sad day for us,” he said. “Now we have to face the reality, today we gave a goal away and we were not good enough to break them down. We could play for three hours and we would not have done it.
“It is my responsibility and I take it. When it is beautiful great, when it isn’t, that is sport.
“The number of goals we have given to the opponents recently has cost us but we can’t put the guilt on someone. We should have been better as a team and in the last few weeks we have fallen short.
“This is football. It is a very sad day, we have been working for 11 months with that aim and have been on top for so many days. We have competed but we didn’t have enough.
“Now we must heal. It is very painful. I have to find a way to lift the players and we have a tough week ahead of us.”
