Pep Guardiola insists 'winners' Arsenal did not bottle Premier League title race vs Man City

Arsenal are 'winners' in the Premier League this season, despite falling short in their title challenge against Manchester City, Guardiola says.

City trailed Arsenal by eight points at various points of the season, but the Blues fought back and sealed the title this weekend thanks to Arsenal's defeat at Nottingham Forest. City followed that with a 12th successive league win over Chelsea and celebrated their title in front of the Etihad fans with two games to spare.

Reflecting on City's title win, Guardiola paid tribute to Arsenal's season and insisted they did not 'bottle' their title chances.

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"I would like to, on behalf of all the organisation, send incredible big congratulations for all Arsenal have done," a jubilant Guardiola said after lifting his fifth Premier League trophy.

"Arsenal bring what they have been in the past. They have been like Liverpool in previous seasons. They bring us again to our limits, otherwise we don't bring this run of 12 games winning. After making 50 points in first leg, it would be impossible to catch them. They lost some points, we were there to push them.

"I don't remember perfectly but we won a lot of games in a row to beat Liverpool in the past. They [Arsenal] have been similar. Liverpool arrived until the last game two or three times. The first leg from Arsenal, they did 50 points. I had the feeling they’d done something special and they would have to drop points and it would be difficult. But they’ve played exceptional. We were there and we didn’t give up.

"I’d not say it is more important. The first one when we did 100 points. Every game was win win win, goal goal goal, and the