"I can't dwell on it too much; we all have to move on" - Arsenal star says he is not to blame for Gunners missing out on top 4 spot to Tottenham last season

Arsenal were in the driver's seat to clinch fourth place in the Premier League in the final stretch of last season. However, a series of disappointing performances saw them slip from their position and concede the spot to Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs, to their credit, did really well to take their chances and even beat the Gunners 3-0. The match could have turned out differently but Rob Holding's red card in the first half all but ended his side's hopes.

Speaking of the finishing stretch last season. Holding said(reported via The Sun):

“Of course, I was disappointed with how the season finished but it didn’t come down to just the Tottenham game. There was a stage when we were fourth in the table with games in hand and we were thinking ‘we could do this’. But we lost five of our last 10 games and we let it slip away.”

The Arsenal centre-back added:

“There were three games before Tottenham, against Crystal Palace, Southampton, and Brighton & Hove Albion when we should really have finished it off but we dropped points. So people can say it was all down to that Tottenham result but if things had gone differently earlier on it wouldn’t have even been an important game.”

Holding revealed, however, that he replayed his red card in the game against Spurs later on:

“The day after Tottenham, I was taking the dog for a walk and thinking over and over again ‘what could I have done differently?’ I didn’t want Son to have a free run so tried to make it a bit of a physical battle and even after that we could still have got into the top four if we hadn’t lost our next game at Newcastle.”

He concluded:

“But it is what it is. I can’t dwell on it too much. We all have to move on.”

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"Now we have more strength in central defence" - Arsenal defender Rob Holding

Holding stated that he understands the competition for places has now increased following William Saliba and Pablo Mari's return to Arsenal.

“Now we have more strength in central defence and more competition for places. I’m not going to just give up and be like ‘if I’m not starting then I’m not interested in coming on and helping the team’.”

Speaking about qualifying for the UEFA Champions League next season, the Arsenal defender said:

“We want Champions League qualification and we have two opportunities to do that by finishing in the top four or by winning the Europa League. My preference would be to have both.”

Holding notably started the Gunners' most recent pre-season contest, a 3-1 win against Orlando City last night (July 20).