Monday’s briefing: Arsenal seal Champions League spot as Chelsea complete treble | OneFootball

Arsenal are all but certain to finish as Premier League runners-up after securing Champions League football for another season.

Newcastle, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest face a final-day battle for the three remaining places with just one point separating them.

For Chelsea’s Women, however, the quest for honours yielded a third trophy of the campaign on Sunday.

Arteta gunning for silverware

Mikel Arteta is ready to give his life to deliver a trophy for Arsenal after apologising to the club’s fans for ending the season empty-handed.

Speaking after Declan Rice’s goal had clinched a 1-0 win over Newcastle which booked their Champions League place, the Spaniard reflected on a season during which his side failed to mount a serious challenge to champions Liverpool and went out of both Europe and Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage.

Arteta, who had earlier issued his apology while addressing supporters, said: “I know what we have been through for the past nine and a half months and the history of this Premier League, and there are teams who have not been in even 70 per cent of the situation that we have been in, and they have completely collapsed and we have not. And I really value that.

“What I can promise is that I will do my very best (to win a trophy) and I will give my life, and get every drop of everybody here to squeeze it and get the best (out of them).”

Forest in the hunt

Newcastle remain in third place heading into the final day of the campaign, but they are separated from Nottingham Forest in seventh by just a single point.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men are level on 65 points with Manchester City, who have a game in hand, and firmly in the race for a Champions League spot ahead of their crucial showdown with Chelsea after a 2-1 win at West Ham courtesy of goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and Nikola Milenkovic.

Dedicating the victory to striker Taiwo Awoniyi as he continues his recovery from emergency abdominal surgery, head coach Nuno Espirito Santo said: “Since the beginning of our preparations, ‘T’ was on our minds due to the seriousness of the situation, and the boys really wanted to do it for him.

“That was our final words, ‘let’s give it a push’. He is someone we admire, his smile is contagious and the boys did it for him. We are so proud.”

Trebles all round

Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor is celebrating a remarkable first season in English football after adding the Women’s FA Cup to her WSL title and League Cup successes.

Two goals from Sandy Baltimore either side of a Catarina Macario’s header handed the Frenchwoman a 3-0 victory over holders Manchester United in front of a crowd of 74,412 at Wembley on a day when Sir Jim Ratcliffe, minority owner at Old Trafford, was conspicuous by his absence.

Bompastor said: “We just showed our mentality, our values, in this game, and I think to be able to end the season in almost a perfect scenario.

“We won, we were playing at Wembley, it was sold out, and we had a strong performance, strong results, I think against a strong opponent. That’s almost the ideal way to end the season.”

What’s on today?

Liverpool complete the penultimate round of Premier League fixtures when they head for Brighton on Monday evening.

Arne Slot’s men sit 12 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with a game in hand, but have won neither of their last two outings, a 3-1 defeat at Chelsea and a 2-2 home draw with the Gunners.

The Seagulls can finish no higher than eighth, although that could yet be good enough for a Conference League berth.