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Mikel Arteta says Arsenal should discover “that little share” to take the ultimate step in direction of success, after a 2-1 win over Southampton introduced their Premier League marketing campaign to an in depth on Sunday.
Kieran Tierney, making his last look for the membership, opened the scoring simply earlier than half-time with a pointy near-post end, although Ross Stewart levelled proceedings early within the second half.
Regardless of dominating possession, the Gunners didn’t discover a approach by, and it took a 89th-minute long-range strike from Martin Odegaard to grab victory at St. Mary’s Stadium.
The win confirmed Arsenal’s third straight second-place end, marking solely the fifth time in top-flight historical past a staff has been runners-up three years in a row, with Arsenal the primary facet to take action twice (additionally 1998-99 to 2000-01).
Reflecting on his facet’s efficiency to BBC Match of the Day, Arteta mentioned: “We needed to complete with that positivity, that good environment and vibe.
“We needed to say goodbye to a couple gamers, and I feel they deserved that to occur in a pleasant setting.”
Talking on what plans the membership has for the summer season switch window, the Spaniard pointed to some delicate enhancements: “Josh [Kroenke] has been very clear within the path and ambition we’ve got.
“We’re going to try to see what we will do, make very delicate selections, and respect what has taken us this far.
“There’s not a lot enchancment for us. We’ve completed second 3 times, reached the Champions League semi-finals. There’s simply that little share we have to nail.”
Ending the season with all three factors pic.twitter.com/AiotOLuvxS
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) Could 25, 2025
Tierney, who is ready for a return to boyhood membership Celtic on the finish of the season, leaves Arsenal having scored 4 Premier League targets – all of them coming in opposition to groups that had been relegated in the identical season (Southampton in 2024-25, Watford in 2019-20, West Brom in 2020-21, and Norwich in 2021-22).
“Kieran mentioned yesterday, ‘I’m going to attain on my final Arsenal match’ and now he’s finished it. We’re very pleased with him. He’s been a giant a part of the journey,” Arteta added.
Southampton’s defeat capped a traditionally poor marketing campaign. The Saints at the moment are the primary staff in Premier League historical past to lose 30 video games in a season, and certainly the primary to lose 30 video games in a 38-game top-flight marketing campaign.
Simply hours earlier than kick-off, the membership introduced that Will Nonetheless had been appointed supervisor forward of their subsequent Championship marketing campaign.
Simon Rusk displays on our last day show:
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) Could 25, 2025
Interim supervisor Simon Rusk was optimistic about Southampton’s performances regardless of their disappointing Twentieth-place end.
“Out of the seven video games I’ve had [as manager], there’s been positives in there,” Rusk instructed BBC Match of the Day.
“We had been actually near taking a degree off the Premier League runners-up. We may be actually pleased with our general show and hopefully that’s an excellent platform going into subsequent season.
When requested about his future following Nonetheless’s appointment, he added: “I’ve had no info on my future.
“My focus was to help the gamers in delivering a sport plan to get one thing out of those video games.
“It’s good for everybody to have readability on who the supervisor goes to be, and I’m certain when the time is correct, I’ll get some readability alone future.”
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