Manchester City midfielder Rodri has claimed Arsenal lacked the mentality to win the Premier League; City won their final league game of the season against West Ham to seal a fourth league title; However, City failed to beat both Arsenal and Liverpool on their way to the title
Monday 20 May 2024 22:24, UK
Rodri has claimed Manchester City beat Arsenal to the title due to a superior "mentality", criticising the Gunners for not wanting to defeat the champions in their March encounter.
The Spanish midfielder rounded off the scoring in City's 3-1 win over West Ham to secure a fourth league title in a row for Pep Guardiola's side, who finished two points ahead of Mikel Arteta's Arsenal.
Rodri even went so far as to claim that Arsenal settling for a point at the Etihad Stadium clash against City on March 31 was the reason they gave up the title.
The claims come even though City failed to beat Arsenal in their three encounters this season, while Guardiola's side were also winless in their two matches over third-placed Liverpool.
When asked how his side achieves such consistent success, Rodri told Optus Sport: "To be honest, I think it's in here," pointing to his head. "It's the mentality.
"Arsenal, also they deserve [to win the league], they did an unbelievable season, but I think the difference was in here [pointing to his head again].
"When they came here, they faced us at the Etihad, I saw them and said: 'Ah, these guys, they don't want to beat us, they just want a draw.'
"And that mentality, I don't think we would do it the same way.
"And we caught them. At the end, if you give us one point, we will win the last seven, eight games even though it's so tough. So I think it comes down to mentality."
Mikel Arteta has vowed Arsenal will come back stronger and win the Premier League after they suffered title heartbreak for a second season in a row.
The Gunners claimed a late 2-1 win over Everton on the final day but City's 3-1 victory over West Ham crowned them champions.
"First of all congrats to Manchester City for winning the Premier League," Arteta said.
"Today some mixed emotions. First of all, to be really proud of the staff and those players. They've done an incredible job and they have pushed every limit and every margin that we could to try to win this Premier League.
"Unfortunately, it a bit short and we couldn't deliver the prize that we wanted.
"They (City) took it away from us. It's the second season.
"There's only one way to do it - you have to be more determined, you have to be more ambitious, you have to have a lot of courage and push every limit in everything that we have. That's the next step.
"If we do what we have to do, we're going to be closer and at the end we'll win it. When? I don't know, but if we keep knocking and being that close, in the end it will happen."
The 2023/24 season has reached its conclusion but planning has already started for the new campaign.
Several Premier League sides have confirmed pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2024/25 term, which kicks off on the weekend of August 17/18, while others have given fresh kits an early airing.
The Premier League fixtures - all 380 of them - will be released at 9am on Tuesday, June 18, with full coverage on Sky Sports News and Sky Sports' digital platforms.
The new EFL season starts on the weekend of August 10/11 and marks the launch of Sky Sports+, giving more choice to sports fans via live streams and a new dedicated channel, at no extra cost. In a broadcasting first, every EFL game across all three divisions - the Championship, League One and League Two - will be streamed live on the opening weekend.
Stand by for another busy summer in the transfer window - clubs can do business from June 14 until August 30 and the Sky Sports Transfer Centre will keep you posted with all the latest news and rumours.
Euro 2024 is just weeks away, too. Keep track of England's Euro fixtures, check out the full tournament schedule in Germany and join us on skysports.com or the Sky Sports app to follow every game with our live match blogs.
