Arsenal held up their end of the bargain – just about – on the final day of the campaign, but that will be little solace for Mikel Arteta on Sunday evening as his team missed out on the Premier League title to Manchester City for the second season running.
The Gunners huffed and puffed for large spells against a resilient Everton side, and even went a goal down in the first half, but they eventually secured their 28th victory of the domestic campaign. It wasn’t enough, however, with several of Arteta’s players collapsing into the turf when the final whistle sounded.
With City racing into a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes, the raucous Emirates atmosphere soon simmered down considerably. The chances Mikel Arteta’s side spurned, with Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Martinelli each letting big opportunities go begging, did little to lift the mood early on.
Things got worse when Idrissa Gueye’s free-kick deflected past David Raya and into the Arsenal net in the 40th minute, though the Gunners soon equalised through Tomiyasu. The noise that greeted that goal paled in comparison to when the hosts were given a glimmer of title hope shortly after, though, with West Ham pulling one back just before the break at the Etihad.
But this did not last long. Arsenal struggled to create anything at the start of the second half and City’s third goal on the hour-mark left their hopes of finishing top hanging by a thread. The Gunners did at least threaten to end their season with bang, as Martin Odegaard saw an effort from close-range smothered by Jordan Pickford and substitute Emile Smith Rowe tickled the bar, but the breakthrough would not come.
That was until, Gabriel Jesus burst through the Toffees backline and fed Odegaard, whose scuffed shot trickled into the path of Kai Havertz, who provided the finishing touches and clinched victory.
