Arsenal confirmed a second placed Premier League finish for the third consecutive season with a 1-0 win over Newcastle United but the North London club admit the campaign has “fallen short” of expectations.
Declan Rice, who had a quiet game until his decisive strike, scored the only goal of Arsenal’s final home game of another trophyless season, a beautiful 54th-minute right foot effort after the visitors had missed a succession of first half chances.
Following a Martin Odegaard assist, his fifth in six games, the ball rolled kindly towards the midfielder and he whipped it across goal to the side of Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope.
Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke didn’t pull any punches with a letter in the matchday programme as Arsenal finished empty-handed for the fifth year in a row.
Admitting that the club had “fallen short”, he said: “We’re still pursuing second place in the Premier League for the third year running, but we all want to win it. We plan to invest to get behind winning and doing better next season.
“Our sporting director, Andrea [Berta], will play an important role in this. We are crystal clear on exactly what we need to do and the way in which we want to do it.”
Arsenal reached the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League, knocking out holders Real Madrid before elimination to Paris Saint-Germain, but there was criticism from fans that no striker has been bought for four years.
Rice, a deep lying midfielder, has scored four of the last eight goals at home for Arsenal.
At the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, it was Newcastle United who created the better first half chances of an important game for both teams.
Newcastle would have gone ahead of Arsenal in the table had they won, but while David Raya’s first half distribution was poor and put his team at risk, his shot-stopping was not.
Raya made a big save from Bruno Guimaraes after five minutes before Tino Livramento shot straight at the Spaniard five minutes later after a sweeping Newcastle move through an Arsenal defence lacking communication and cohesion.
Intentional or not, Nick Pope’s right bicep did make a superb save after 12 minutes but generally the Newcastle goalkeeper had little to do in the first half. Instead, Harvey Barnes and Dan Burn both then came close as Arsenal were regularly carved open.
When Mikel Arteta’s side did attack, they sent crosses into the Newcastle box where the Geordies’ three giant central defenders – Burn, Botman and Schar – coped with ease.
Arsenal improved significantly in the second half and Rice’s strike turned out to be decisive, though Ben White also came close when his effort fizzed past the post from 25 yards.
The result left Newcastle United needing to win their final game against Everton at St James' Park to guarantee Champions League qualification.
Post match, Arteta managed to slip in a dig at neighbours Tottenham Hotspur – and their Europa League final opponents Manchester United – as he sought to big up Arsenal’s season.
“We need to recognise what we’ve done,” said the Spaniard, whose team are 13 points behind champions Liverpool who have a game in hand. “I’ve seen teams with one or two injuries finish 16th, 17th.”
The frustration for Arteta is that either Spurs or Manchester United will be lifting silverware this week – and in the Basque Country where the former La Masia graduate was born.
