Arne Slot makes ‘best in Europe’ claim about Arsenal after Premier League title win

Arne Slot believes Arsenal are ‘by far the best team off the ball in Europe’ and feels ‘football has evolved’ following the Gunners’ Premier League title win this season.

Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years this week as Manchester City’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on Tuesday night meant the title race would not go down to the final day of the season.

Liverpool, who won the title last season in Slot’s first campaign in charge, currently sit fourth in the Premier League ahead of their final game at home to Brentford this Sunday.

Speaking ahead of that game, Slot sent his congratulations to Arteta but was keen to point out that Arsenal’s title win has been unique due to their effectiveness from set-pieces this season.

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‘Not a reset but football has evolved, football has changed,’ Slot said on Friday.

‘I think, first of all, I’m hoping someone would have asked me that question at the start. But let me in this position congratulate Arsenal [on] winning the league, the club, Mikel [Arteta] and his staff for a great accomplishment.

‘Winning the league here in England is never easy and they’ve done a tremendous job this season, so congratulations to them.

‘But for me they’ve been a different champion than the last time. The last 10 seasons this league has been won by other teams.

‘First of all, because it’s the first time in 30 years that a team had 40 per cent of their goals they had from set-pieces. I think Luis Enrique said – and I completely agree with him – they are maybe by far the best team off the ball in our league but I also think in Europe.

‘So, football has changed, has evolved and we have to make sure we are able next season again to compete with Arsenal and with [Manchester] City again with our own brand of football.

‘We have to find the right balance in that but we have to know and understand that football has changed, football has evolved.

‘We showed this week also again with Villa that scored their first [goal] from a set-piece and the second one in a second-phase set-piece. We have to take that into account but we also have to take into account that we play a style or brand of football that our fans like, as long as that goes together with competing for the trophies we want to compete for.’

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