Manchester City beating Arsenal to Premier League title down to ‘mentality’ – Rodri

Manchester City midfielder Rodri believes the reason for topping Arsenal to Premier League title was down to mentality. Rodri reckons the Gunners parked the bus when they faced them and played for a draw, which turned out to be the difference in the end.

After beating West Ham by 3-1, City became the first team to win four Premier League titles in a row. The Cityzens won 28 out of the 38 matches and claimed 91 points to beat Arsenal by two points.

Arsenal played a goalless draw against the Sky Blues at the Etihad Stadium on 31st March and Rodri feels it was where they won the title.

Rodri told Optus Sport: “To be honest, I think it’s in here,” pointing to his head. “It’s the mentality.

“Arsenal, also they deserve [to win the league], they did an unbelievable season, but I think the difference was in here [pointing to his head again].

“When they came here, they faced us at the Etihad, I saw them and said: ‘Ah, these guys, they don’t want to beat us, they just want a draw.’

“And we caught them. At the end, if you give us one point, we will win the last seven, eight games even though it’s so tough. So I think it comes down to mentality.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal had beaten Manchester City by 1-0 when they met in October 2023. 

On the other hand, Arsenal’s boss Mikel Arteta was proud of his players and said the title will soon come to them.

“First of all congrats to Manchester City for winning the Premier League,” Arteta said.

“Today some mixed emotions. First of all, to be really proud of the staff and those players. They’ve done an incredible job and they have pushed every limit and every margin that we could to try to win this Premier League.

“Unfortunately, it a bit short and we couldn’t deliver the prize that we wanted.

“They (City) took it away from us. It’s the second season.