Martin Keown reckons Unai Emery was ‘desperate’ to dent Arsenal’s title bid (AP)
Martin Keown believes Unai Emery cost Arsenal the Premier League title this season and claims the Aston Villa manager was ‘desperate’ to beat his former club.
Arsenal narrowly missed out on securing their first Premier League trophy since 2004 on the final day of the season on Sunday as Manchester City ran out 3-1 winners over West Ham to finish two points clear at the top of the table.
Mikel Arteta’s side ran City close but Pep Guardiola has revealed that his players were given hope after Arsenal were beaten 2-0 at home by Villa in April.
And Keown believes defeats to Villa both home and away this season are responsible for Arsenal’s failure to win the league.
‘They [City] have that luxury, Arsenal are a developing club,’ Keown said on talkSPORT on Monday.
‘You go into a fight with Man City, if Arsenal manage a draw and they don’t lose to Villa they can be champions. So they went there to pick up those necessary points up because they know if they get beat it just wipes Arsenal out and City do it again.
Unai Emery’s Aston Villa won both home and away against Arsenal this season (Getty)
‘I think the reason Arsenal didn’t win the league was because of Unai Emery – he takes six points off of Arsenal.
‘I’m going to say this because I genuinely feel this that he’s like the swan on the surface, very calm, plays against his old team respectively but below the surface he’s desperate, those little feet are going like crazy to beat Arsenal and he’s managed it, he stopped Arsenal winning the league.
‘It’s ironic, I played for both great clubs, and Villa have just been amazing. They started the season by conceding five goals and they finished it by conceding five goals and in between they’ve ended up top four, but they’ve had a massive say in who won the Premier League this year.
‘But the level City have set, they set the benchmark and I think Arsenal are catching up very quickly.
‘That’s Rodri, because what he wants to do is send a message, ‘we’re the best’. They do it, they win the trophies. But that just lays it down for next year.
‘If I’m an Arsenal player now, you go away, you think about it, you use it as oxygen, you come out of the ashes and come back firing and you keep going until you win.’
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