Mikel Arteta claimed he "wouldn't look to excuses" after his Arsenal side lost at Nottingham Forest - surrendering the Premier League title to Manchester City.
The Gunners had sat top for the majority of the season but have fallen apart in the final weeks of the campaign. Their latest defeat means Pep Guardiola's men can celebrate being champions before they play Chelsea on Sunday.
Arsenal had been expected to challenge for the top four at the start of the campaign and have greatly overachieved by challenging. However they once held a healthy lead at the summit but a succession of games whereby they've dropped points has seen them hand the title to City.
Forest, whose win now means they are safe and will play in the top flight next term, scored their winner after 19 minutes courtesy of Taiwo Awoniyi with Arsenal unable to respond. Arteta, who has continued to laud his young side, told Sky Sports : "We should not look for excuses and to put the guilt on someone. We should have been better as a team.”
He went on to tell the BBC : "First of all congratulations to Manchester City for winning the championship but it is a sad day for us. Now we have to face the reality, today we gave a goal away and we were not good enough to break them down.
"We could play for three hours and we would not have done it. It is my responsibility and I take it. When it is beautiful great, when it isn't, that is sport. The number of goals we have given to the opponents recently has cost us but we can't put the guilt on someone.
"We should have been better as a team and in the last few weeks we have fallen short. This is football. It is a very sad day, we have been working for 11 months with that aim and have been on top for so many days. We have competed but we didn't have enough. Now we must heal. It is very painful. I have to find a way to lift the players and we have a tough week ahead of us."
The Spaniard is into his third full season as manager and has by far produced his best campaign to date. His Gunners side won 16 of their first 19 games and have recorded memorable wins over the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and neighbours Tottenham, whom they've done the double over.
There have been doubts over the lack of depth at the Emirates with Arteta largely sticking to the same starting XI for much of the season. That has eventually counted against them as injuries and a drop off in form impacted them with a lack of cover available at the Emirates.
