Declan Rice has told Arsenal to "live with this feeling" of bitter disappointment at another near-miss with the title - and use it fire their assault on the summit next season.
The Gunners fell agonisingly short of their first Premier League crown since the Invincibles of 2004 - despite collecting 49 points from a possible 54 in 2024. And after Manchester City, unbeaten in 23 league games since December 6, held their nerve to claim a fourth successive title, £105 million record signing Rice admitted: "It's not something I want to experience again."
The England midfielder enjoyed an outstanding first season at the Emirates, contributing seven goals and nine assists as an ever-present in Arsenal's engine room. But he cut a disconsolate figure after Sunday's 2-1 win against Everton was not enough to dislodge City from their perch - although the 115 charges of financial jiggery-pokery in the champions' pending tray continue to cast a shadow over the Blue Moon.
Rice said: "The last few weeks have been such a whirlwind in terms of the emotions, the feelings we've had, watching other games, playing our games. It's not something I want to experience again, but it's an experience I'm so grateful to have had being in my first title race.
"It's been so special. To not win it is gutting, but we can't rely on other teams to help us out. We have to look back on ourselves and games where we dropped points. That is ultimately where we've lost the league, but we'll be back.
"We're really confident as a group and you see the manager has full control of everything. I'm sure we'll be stronger in the summer. There were a few of us walking around at the end there and we said that feeling we have now in our stomach, of losing out on a title and seeing them lift it again, starting tomorrow and going through the summer, we need to have that feeling of what today feels like.
"They (City) are four in a row so now if you want to win the Premier League and be hungry, you need to live with this feeling and we don't want to feel this again. We see our fans, how everything was set up, we wanted to enjoy this moment with them, but look, we'll go again."
In his defiant post-match address to the supporters, manager Mikel Arteta told them: "Don't be satisfied - we want much more, and we're gonna get it." Arsenal had spent 248 days at the top of the league in 2022-23, only for a disastrous stumble around Easter left them five points adrift of City when the music stopped.
But Rice, £65m Kai Havertz and on-loan goalkeeper David Raya - whose £27m switch from Brentford on a permanent deal is now a mere formality - strengthened the Gunners' spine and they went on to win 28 games and score 91 goals - more than the Invinicibles 20 years ago. It took the title race to the wire this time, but it still wasn't enough.
Skipper Martin Odegaard said: "We are really confident as a group and I'm sure we will be stronger. That is the challenge of the Premier League. It's getting stronger, it's getting better and I feel like we will be better for it."
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