Pain of guard of honour for Liverpool can motivate Arsenal next season
Mikel Arteta has said he wants the pain of performing a guard of honour for Liverpool to act as Arsenal's motivation to beat their rivals to the Premier League title next season.
Arteta's players will stand and applaud the champions ahead of Sunday's fixture at Anfield, only four days after they were eliminated from the Champions League.
Arsenal's failure to see off Paris St Germain in their semi-final tie means their five-year wait for silverware will be extended into another campaign.
Addressing the guard of honour, Arteta said: 'Something has to drive you, to motivate you and pain is probably a good one to use when you don't really want to do something, but it's the right thing to do and then use that as a motivation for next season.
'But they (Liverpool) deserve that guard of honour because they have been the best team and they fully deserve it. When somebody is better, you have to applaud and accept it and try to reach that level.'
Arsenal, who trail Liverpool by 15 points, will record fewer points than they managed in both of the past two seasons where they finished as runners-up to Manchester City.
The Gunners could again finish second in the league. They head into their remaining three matches holding a three-point lead over third-placed City.
But following their failure to launch a serious title challenge to Liverpool and their last-four exits from both the Champions League and Carabao Cup this season, Areta has courted criticism.
The Spaniard has transformed Arsenal's fortunes but he has only one trophy – the 2020 FA Cup – to show for his five-and-a-half years in charge.
However, Arteta continued: 'I have so much to achieve and that is what drives me every day. The people and the staff and the players drive me every single day.
'If there is somebody that has raised the standard and the expectation the highest, it has been me. Because I have been demanding and expecting much more, and after that much more, and after that much more.
'For me it is the only way to do it, for everybody to have really high standards and demands.
'We are very, very close to achieving it. I understand the disappointment and the criticism. It is all part of it.
'At the end there is one winner and the rest of them aren't going to win, so they need to reinvent themselves and do better and that is part of the cycle.'
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