Arsenal boss Arteta 'very proud' after falling short in title battle

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says he was proud of his players after falling short in the title race.

Victory over Everton saw the Gunners finish two points behind champions Manchester City.

Arteta said: "I'm very proud. First of all congratulations to Manchester City, they are the champions, they've been incredible since December. We have tried with everything that we had. You can sense how much we wanted it, we really tried. It wasn't enough unfortunately.

"It feels good because success can not only be measured by comparing to somebody else, we need to understand what we are doing. We've beat every record this club ever had apart from winning it. This is the most competitive league ever in the history and we have to be better. Now we need to find ways we have to improve."

On the Arsenal fans, he also said: "That's the most fulfilling thing. One of the dreams I had when I joined was to reconnect everybody, to really bring this place to a different level. We are on that journey right now. I feel sad because I really wanted to deliver that trophy today because it would mean the world to them but we are closer, that's for sure.

"Now we have to be more determined, very courageous, very ambitious, and we need to go to a different level. We need to deliver."