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Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Serge Aurier shared a cheeky message after defeating Arsenal with Nottingham Forest on Saturday, May 20.
The Tricky Trees beat the Gunners 1-0 at the City Ground in the Premier League with Taiwo Awoniyi scoring the winner. With their win, Nottingham secured their safety from relegation this season.
The result also meant that Arsenal officially lost the Premier League title to Manchester City, who have now completed a three-peat.
After the game, Nottingham Forest right wing-back Serge Aurier posted an Instagram story, writing:
"If we are not champions. They will not be champions too. My Spurs family."
Aurier spent three years at Arsenal's arch-rivals Tottenham after joining them from Paris Saint-Germain in 2017. He made 110 appearances for the club, scoring eight goals and providing 17 assists.
Aurier put in an excellent performance against the Gunners on Saturday. He won all five of his ground duels and also made four clearances, two tackles, and one interception.
The Ivorian fullback joined newly-promoted Nottingham on a free transfer last summer. He has made 27 appearances for the club, helping them maintain their Premier League status for next year.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on the end of Premier League title race
Arsenal put in an incredible title challenge this season, being at the top for 248 days, but eventually fell short in recent weeks. They had an eight-point advantage over Manchester City a few weeks ago but won just two of their previous eight games since.
After their defeat against Nottingham sealed the destination of the league title, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta was asked about his side's title challenge. He said (via Arsenal.com):
"It’s a really sad day and there are a lot of difficult emotions. Obviously because we lost the game and we lost the championship after 10 and a half months fighting for it. I know that we have built an illusion, enthusiasm and belief that we could go all the way and win it, and we fell short."
He added:
"So congratulations to Manchester City, they’re the champions and they deserve to be the champions. They’ve done it for 38 games and we haven’t been able to do that.
"That’s it, and from my side I apologise because we have generated belief that we could do it, and at the end the team wasn’t able to do it, and that is my responsibility."
The north London side will end their 2022-23 campaign against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, May 28.
