Arsenal legend Thierry Henry says Tottenham Hotspur's end-of-season collapse shows they are "mentally weak" and believes Spurs must learn from the experience.
With three games remaining Spurs were second, with a five-point lead over Manchester City and Arsenal, but they picked up just one point, drawing at Chelsea and losing to Southampton and relegated Newcastle United.
Spurs needed a point at St. James' Park to ensure second place and a first finish above rivals Arsenal since the 1994-95 season, but they were thrashed 5-1, despite playing against 10 men for the last 20 minutes, and finished behind the Gunners for the 21st consecutive campaign.
Both Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino and striker Harry Kane have put their recent poor form down to mentality and Henry agrees.
"We were all praising them at the beginning of the season, saying they were mentally strong and technically and physically great," Henry told Sky Sports. "But they showed in the last few games something that you have when you have a team of a lot of youngsters; sometimes you can be mentally weak.
"Hopefully they can learn from that and come back better next season. You need to concentrate on yourself, and see what you can achieve. Obviously for a long time they were chasing Leicester to be champions, now they've finished third, yet again behind Arsenal. It does matter in London, but the bigger picture is to be champions."
Arsenal's 4-0 win over bottom club Aston Villa on the final day saw them leapfrog Spurs but former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher still believes Spurs had a better season than their North London rivals.
"I don't think the big thing should be finishing behind Arsenal," Carragher said. "Tottenham challenged for the title, they were in contention to win the league. With Arsenal that went away in February and the middle of March.
"Tottenham took it right to the wire. The table says Arsenal finished above them and of course it leaves a sour taste, but [Mauricio] Pochettino echoed Thierry's thoughts and said 'forget this Arsenal thing, it's about going for the title and winning trophies.'"
Meanwhile, former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp believes Arsenal are "lucky" to finished second and says his old club have a better squad than their rivals.
"Being brutally honest, Arsenal are very lucky to have finished the season second and Arsene needs to buy some players over the summer to get anywhere near Spurs," Redknapp wrote in The Daily Telegraph.
"They've got good young players, at least five of whom are in the England squad, and will be back challenging at the top again next season. They could go all the way and win the league. And if you were to ask me which team I would rather have, between Arsenal and Spurs, there's really no competition."