Mikel Arteta has revealed the key moment in the title race which convinced him that Arsenal would win the Premier League title.
The Gunners made it fourth time lucky, after three second-placed finishers, by winning the title this season, ending a 22-year wait to be crowned the best in England.
Another hard-fought title race with Manchester City was decided earlier in the week, when City failed to beat Bournemouth, and the Gunners lifted the Premier League trophy on Sunday after beating Crystal Palace.
Arteta insists he knew his expensively assembled squad were capable of winning the title in pre-season, but it was not until April that he knew they were going to be crowned champions.
Asked to name any key moments in the title race, Arteta told BeIN Sports: "The very first one probably came when we all came together in pre-season, the week before we played Manchester United.
"I got all the players together and asked them what they were happy to do for the team. They were happy to do anything for the team and I knew we had a big chance to compete in every competition because we had the depth and the quality to challenge.
"Their response was immediate and incredible and they weren’t just words – it’s easy to say it in a meeting, but then you need to produce it throughout a ten-month season.
"The boys deserve so much credit because they’ve done it in an incredible way.
"The second moment is when we lost at Manchester City. That day I thought, “we are going to win it”. I looked at the players in the dressing room and I wanted to see their reactions before I said anything.
"And I could tell they were very hurt but they realised we can beat them and we can be better than them.
"It was in our hands and we had to do what we had to do, after that we focused on what we needed to become champions and the response was immediate.
"From that moment I realised we were going to go very close to winning it."
