What Arsenal did as Liverpool won the Premier League title speaks volumes for Mikel Arteta

They only needed a point, but nobody of an Arsenal persuasion was holding up much hope or belief that Tottenham were going to stop Liverpool from winning the Premier League title with anything other than a win on Sunday. This was as much of a gimme as a clincher could be.

, against a side concentrating on the Europa League instead and with one win in their last seven having lost five or them. Tottenham are 16th. They have 37 points from 34 games. They are only a point above West Ham. They are terrible.

This was a procession and a title parade from the start. In 2020, they were confirmed winners after Chelsea beat Manchester City during the Covid-19-affected season. Now they got to celebrate in front of their own fans after earning the trophy. They deserve it.

Arsenal have been a mixture of unfortunate and also not equipped this season for competing on multiple fronts.. Mikel Arteta has been forced to prioritise, though.

Every now and then the door has opened slightly. When Liverpool lost to Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup and then drew to Everton in the final Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park there was a glimmer. Maybe, just maybe, Arne Slot's men were dropping off.

They drew to Aston Villa and went close with Wolves. Performances certainly dipped and the Carabao Cup final defeat with Paris Saint-Germain overcoming them in Europe was another late opportunity. The reality is that Arsenal were never able to stitch together enough consistent form to make a real play of this.

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It is understandable, too. The summer transfer business was a bit confused and didn't seem to address the real issues in the squad. Depth has been missing and a spate of injuries have caught up.

Is it unfortunate or is it a consequence of Arteta leaning so heavily on the same group of players yet again with rotation at a premium and backup options either non existent or not really good enough for the level? That is still to be decided.

What Arsenal can say is that they have not let the season slide. At times it looked like they might. The title charge was always a tough ask and blips came too often. The October slide with two defeats and two draws set the wheels in motion. Every time a run threatened to begin, a true charge, it was halted. Draws against Fulham and Everton, then Brighton and Aston Villa (from 2-0 up).

They didn't strengthen in January and then lost two attackers for the season. They were overpowered in the Carabao Cup by Newcastle United and from as early as February the focus had to shift.

The credit to Arsenal is that they have recovered from disappointments to offer real belief that history could yet be made. Even if they go out of the Champions League to PSG, they will have reached the semi-finals for the first time in 15 years.

They destroyed Real Madrid across two legs and broke records against PSV Eindhoven in the last-16. They are spoken about as genuine contenders among some of Europe's best in two brilliant ties on paper.

So yes, Liverpool may well have ended up with a free run at the title in the end but Arsenal were watching on from home this weekend preparing for the semi-finals of the Champions League, and that is definitely a good enough makeweight in the final three or so weeks of the season.

With a squad missing the first-choice right-back, centre-back, and striker, Arsenal have already achieved great things and are still trending in the right direction even if they haven't been able to push the Premier League winners as closely as they did in 2022/23 or 2023/24. They have bigger things to worry about now.

A quirk of the scheduling has meant that on the weekend Liverpool get their moment, Arsenal are gearing up for perhaps an even more important one themselves.

Crystal Palace's FA Cup semi-final taking place on Saturday has meant an extended build-up and period of rest for Arteta that is needed. Meanwhile, PSG have played twice and even lost on Friday, the first time that has happened all season in the league.

Sunday is Liverpool's day and that cannot be denied or changed. Arsenal have sights on other matters of their own, though, and quickly the attention will be directed on them for Europe's showpiece finales.