Mikel Arteta gives terse answer to whether Arsenal or Tottenham have had a better season | OneFootball

The debate as to which half of north London has enjoyed a better season is raging but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta wasn’t in the mood to engage with the topic as he gave a terse answer when asked for his thoughts.

The Gunners will finish second in the Premier League for the third straight season, while they also made the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 16 years and reached the last four of the Carabao Cup for good measure.

By contrast, Tottenham Hotspur have endured a dismal league campaign, languishing in 17th – which would be their lowest top-flight finish since 1977 – and only saved from a relegation scrap by the three newly-promoted teams being out of their depth in the top flight as they all made an immediate return to the Championship.

However, Spurs ended their 17-year trophy drought by winning the Europa League, sealing victory with a 1-0 triumph over Manchester United in a low-quality final in Bilbao. It vindicated boss Ange Postecoglou’s claim that he always wins a trophy in his second year at a club and gave Tottenham fans bragging rights over their bitter north London rivals.

When asked at a press conference on Thursday which of the two teams have had a better season, Arteta dodged a direct comparison, curtly responding: “I don't like to compare with other teams. I need to analyse my team, that's my job.”

Having seen his side eliminated in the last four of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month, the Spaniard did acknowledge the hard work Tottenham put in to win a European title.

"They are (Europa League) champions and when you get to that you have to do a lot of things right,” said Arteta. “I think they're going through a season with a lot of obstacles and difficulties. And they have, at the end a beautiful moment.”

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Ange Postecoglou ended Tottenham’s trophy drought (PA Wire)

In recent seasons, Arsenal have become consistent title challengers but have continually fallen short of winning the league. Their last trophy was the 2020 FA Cup, while they have never won the Champions League and have not been Premier League champions since the 2003-04 season.

Yet Arteta is adamant that trophies should not be the sole criteria for judging a side and that other factors must come into consideration.

“Where is the joy then? Because then if I have to analyse ourselves, we have failed the last 20 years in the Premier League and we have failed in all our history in the Champions League,” he explained..

"Who are we then? Where is our brand, where is our club, where is our value, our way of playing? Where are the moments that we lived together with our people?

“A worry [not winning a trophy]? Well, externally yes. I mean, you're going to only evaluate that, then use those two words and that's it.

"But then, I think, make decisions in base to that. So next season you don't do that, you are out. If you do that, you are here forever. I don't know what is it, because last night is a really good example of that. Or the final between Inter and PSG, because they're going to be judged only if they win it. If not, they're going again like the last 12 years that they have tried it. They are very different beyond that."

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Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal shouldn’t be judged solely on trophies (Getty Images)

Arsenal have had the meanest defence in the Premier League this season, conceding just 33 goals in 37 games – seven fewer than champions Liverpool.

The Gunners finish their campaign against bottom-of-the-table Southampton, who narrowly avoided matching Derby’s unwanted record of the fewest points in a Premier League campaign by accruing 12, and Arteta says his side are motivated to have the best defensive record in the division.

He added: "We want to have as many points as possible. We still want to achieve the best defensive record and finish the season on a high.”