Sacked Arsenal boss Unai Emery believes the fine margins cost him his job.

Arsenal have appointed Mikel Arteta as Emery's permanent successor following a brief interim spell for Freddie Ljungberg, and Emery has now opened up to BBC Sport about how those near misses last season ultimately cost him.

Emery said, "The truth is that in the first year I was very pleased and the only thing left for me to do was to put the rubber stamp on the season with a win in the final of the Europa League. In the knockout stages we looked powerful.

"And then we played in the final against Chelsea where we had a great first half in a tactical sense, and where, in my opinion, we could have taken control of the game. But Eden Hazard separated both sides in their favour and they won the match.

"And in the league we swam right up to the shore and died on the beach.

"We effectively lost a top-four finish at home in two games, a draw against Brighton and a loss to Crystal Palace. These happened at a time when we were heavily involved in the Europa League.

"There were things that happened that impeded our chances of responding as well as we would have wanted, such as the injuries to Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Aaron Ramsey.

"But it's true that I was very satisfied with how things went because I believe we learned how to become a team, at times a team that shone, but a team that was effective and competitive, and a team that in general was showing why Arsenal signed me. I believe we achieved that and we just needed to make that final step."