Arsenal full-back Hector Bellerin has insisted that the players are to blame for the team's "disappointing" season, not manager Arsene Wenger.
Wenger has been forced to bear the brunt of the Arsenal fans' wrath for much of the current campaign, with calls for the Frenchman to end his long association with the club reaching unprecedented levels.
Bellerin acknowledged that his side have fallen well short of their goals this season, but hopes to end it on a high with victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup final this afternoon.
"It's disappointing. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to win the league. When we missed that, our priority was to be in the Champions League. We've been doing it for so many years. We had a tough period with the Champions League and those games against Bayern Munich really hurt us. Then in the league we couldn't pick up the form after that. This year it's down to us," he told the Daily Mail.
"We weren't playing at the level required. The manager has always been able to compete at the top through the years with different players. He's won the Premier League. Last year we finished second. We're Arsenal and people want the best from us. Everyone writes us off early and when you don't win for a couple of games everything is going crazy. Sometimes we overthink it. Everyone has ups and downs in football. Look at Chelsea. Last year they didn't get into Europe, this year they've won the league.
"You cannot stay stuck in the past thinking, 'why didn't we get into the top four?'. We're in the Europa League and we're going to play 100% to win the games we have. In the league, [Chelsea] deserve to be winners. They've been consistent and played some great football. But this is a final, one game and it's a competition we love.
"We're going to grab our chance because we need to make amends for the rest of the season and hopefully go home with the FA Cup. The fans will be happy and we'll be happy as players. When you're a kid thinking of being a footballer you're thinking about lifting trophies."
Arsenal's fifth-place finish in the Premier League this season is the lowest during Wenger's near 21-year reign at the club.
Barney Corkhill
