Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal to heal as a team after handing Manchester City the Premier League title on Saturday with a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.

Pep Guardiola’s side were crowned champions without kicking a ball after Taiwo Awoniyi’s 19th-minute strike was enough to give Forest a priceless win that secured their place in the top flight for another season.

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Arsenal held an eight-point lead at the beginning of April but a run of two wins from eight games saw them surrender their advantage with City winning 11 consecutive matches.

And Arteta said: “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.

“It is a really sad day. A lot of difficult emotions. We lost the game and we lost the championship after 10 and a half months fighting for it and nine and a half months almost on top.

“We built a lot of enthusiasm and belief that we could go all the way and win it. At the end we fell short. First of all, congratulations Man City. They are the champions and they deserve to be champions. They’ve done it for 38 games.

“We haven’t been able to do that. That’s it. From my side, I apologise because we have generated that belief that we could do it and at the end the team couldn’t do it. That’s my responsibility.

“We’re here to win, I want to win, I love winning, I love what everyone does at this club to win. When you don’t get there it’s painful. This is how I feel today. I value a lot what the players have done yes, but when you are there, the next step is you have to win. We fell short.”

Asked to pinpoint where the title slipped from their grasp, Arteta cited last month’s draws at Liverpool and West Ham when they led 2-0 in both games only to finish 2-2.

“It started with what happened at Anfield in the 90th minute,” he added. “Then at West Ham if you put it away to make 3-1 everything changes. We have conceded a lot of goals.

“We have given 16 goals away in those matches. It’s a lot. You cannot sustain that. In this league you have to be exceptional with everything because there are no margins. That team doesn’t give you any margins. We have extended those margins too much and that’s why we lost the league.”

Arsenal finish their season with a home game against Wolves next Sunday.