Kyle Walker believes the 4-1 win over Liverpool at the start of April lit the touch paper for Manchester City's pursuit of Arsenal after they were confirmed as Premier League champions on Saturday.
Walker was among the City squad watching Arsenal's 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest, Taiwo Awoniyi's goal enough to secure their own safety and end Mikel Arteta's hopes of a first Premier League title as a manager. Two consecutive defeats for the Gunners leaves them four points short with just a game left to play.
City's pursuit of Arsenal, who spent much of the season on top, was relentless with 11 consecutive league wins including the 4-1 win over their main title rivals at the Etihad. But Walker highlighted another three-goal win over Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool as their starting point for the hunt.
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"Arsenal have been fantastic," Walker told City's in-house media team. "Full credit to them. We just went on an incredible run and ended up where we are now.
"You can see the manager is so on it. I think we drive ourselves. We have achieved so many things over the last number of years, we know the bar and standard set.
"We knew at the start of the season we weren't good enough. We knew after the World Cup we had to kick on. What kicked it off is that Liverpool game."
A few stumbles through the first half of the season led to doubts regarding City's ability to go again for another Premier League title, with Arsenal's incredible first few months only emphasising the Blues' faults.
Questions emerged as to whether Pep Guardiola was placing too much focus on the Champions League, or whether the signing of Erling Haaland - currently on 52 goals for the season - made the team worse.
Asked if proving doubters and critics wrong motivated the group, Walker added: "Of course it does, you want to prove people wrong. We have done so well over the Premier League as where we were wasn't good enough.
We had the hiccup early enough where we could catch someone. Arsenal played fantastic football, had a few hiccups and we capitalised on it.
"With the lads in the dressing room you are always going to believe you can do something."
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