~Snip~
Probably, if Arsenal played not in the EPL, but in the championship of some other country, the team could become champions there. But in the English championship, as we see, there is a lot of competition. In other European countries, the champion was known a few rounds before the end of the season. In England, the fight was until the very last match. And, for three rounds before the end, three teams claimed the title of champion. So to finish second in the EPL is also honourable, although this fact will not help Arsenal players to cope with the fact that they did not become champions.
Arsenal has done something extraordinary this season even though they failed to win the EPL championship due to being unable to compete with Manchester City. Arsenal have also succeeded in improving their quality in the last two matches, which means that the competition for the title must be determined until the last match. Arsenal failure to collect more points than Manchester City was due to the 5 defeats suffered throughout this season, two of which were against Aston Villa.
Unai Emery team beat Arsenal with a score of 1-0 at Villa Park, then Aston Villa also managed to win 2-0 at Emirates Stadium. Two defeats against Aston Villa were the key to Arsenal failure to win the EPL championship, they had to settle for finishing in second place even though there were various assumptions that Arsenal could win the championship if they competed in another league.