\n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n But after Olivier Giroud helped himself to a hat-trick and with Spurs being drubbed 5-1 by an already-relegated Newcastle United, our 21-season record of finishing above our neighbours was intact. In the 88th minute, Wenger handed the Spaniard the opportunity to say goodbye to the supporters who had sung his name for half a decade.<\/p>\n Mikel, though, would be determined that this would be an inconsequential cameo. Seconds before the end, a slip by Villa\u2019s Micah Richards allowed Francis Coquelin to seize possession in the final third. He found Alexis Sanchez inside the area who teased his way past Leandro Bacuna, and spotted a free man lurking by the penalty spot.<\/p>\n He rolled the ball into Mikel\u2019s path, who with the last kick of the game – and ultimately his playing career – thumped it towards goal. He saw his effort crash off the crossbar, strike the back of goalkeeper Mark Bunn, and cross the line to give him the opportunity to celebrate with his teammates and the Gooners in attendance one last time.<\/p>\n It may have eventually been scribbled on the scoresheet as an own goal, but no-one seemed to care. Wenger\u2019s face said it all – he was delighted his skipper had one final moment of joy in red and white.<\/p>\n That joy turned to sadness when Mark Clattenburg blew for full-time moments later. Overcome with emotion, tears streamed down Mikel\u2019s face as the realisation dawned that his playing days were over. Having been consoled by a host of teammates, they graciously left the stage to allow him to single-handedly soak up the warmth and affection from 60,000 supporters on his own, who were more than happy to show their appreciation.<\/p>\n After being joined by his children on our lap of honour, taking in what could be his final look around Emirates Stadium, Mikel eventually trotted down the tunnel, his future far from certain. His post-match interview was also an emotional affair.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s a day I will never forget, I can only thank everyone for how you have all behaved with my family and me in those magnificent five years,\u201d he revealed. \u201cWhen you leave, it is when you see what you mean to people and how you feel about the club. My emotions and the way I feel about the people cannot be any better. <\/p>\n \u201cI was very scared about this day because 99%, that was my last game as a professional footballer. I can’t even talk. I feel very honoured to play for this club and captain this place. This club is class and once you are here, you never forget it. It’s going to be hard for me to move on, but I really enjoyed today.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn’t write a better script. The boys have been absolutely magnificent with me in the last two days. The things I’ve experienced will stay with me for the rest of my life. The way the supporters and the fans behaved with me, it’s just how I feel. It’s a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n A decade on, he now stands on the brink of returning the favour. With 350 games as our manager under his belt, and the three biggest of his six-and-a-half-year tenure on the horizon, Mikel is hoping that this season can have a similar fairytale ending to one he experienced 10 years earlier.<\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A decade ago, Mikel Arteta admitted he was very scared walking into Emirates Stadium. Our captain strolled into the home changing room knowing it was most likely the last time … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Arteta’s final programme notes as our captain <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n Quiz: Name our line-up from Arteta’s final game <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n