Per Mertesacker believes away day capitulations at Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea mean Arsenal don’t deserve to finish in the top three this season despite the fact they’ll end the campaign having topped the table for more weeks since August than any of their rivals.

The Gunners conspired to concede 17 goals (currently 41.4% of all league goals conceded this season) in their three fixtures against their title rivals banjaxing the good work put in during the early stages of the season.

Speaking after last night’s victory over Newcastle, which puts the Gunners on the cusp of securing a 17th consecutive season of Champions League football, the BFG pulled no punches in his assessment of their failed bid for Premier League glory.

“Everyone dreamed about the title but it takes more than staying top until the winter period,” the German told the Evening Standard.

“We could not afford [to lose] those big games against big teams, so we did not deserve to be in the first three. That is something we have to manage much better next year.

“The away games killed us. We have to learn how to play and how to defend in the first 20 minutes [Arsenal conceded four in the first 20 minutes at Anfield and three in 17 minutes at Chelsea]. The games were all similar, we got caught on the break and that is something we have to look at.”

While the BFG is looking ahead to next season already, the boss is more focused on winning the final three games and securing both Champions League football and a first cup since 2005.

Pleased that his side appear to have found their feet with four wins on the bounce since defeat to Everton, the boss spoke of confidence returning.

“You could see there is a harmony in the team again and our fluency is strong. We look always like we can create and for a while we had problems on that front. Now that people are back and everyone is confident again you can see that we always look like we can score.

“It is about getting over the line and finishing the job [to secure a top-four place] now. We want to do it on Sunday against West Brom, who are a dangerous team as well.

“It would be nice to do it as quickly as possible but let’s focus on taking as many points as we can. We are at 73 points, with six more points possible and 79 would be a decent total and show as well that we have moved forward.

“We are in a cup final and we can make 79 points [which] would be great. All together on the performance of the season, it would look much better.”