‘We were really poor’: Arteta fumes as Arsenal slip up in top four race

ARSENAL manager Mikel Arteta was understandably displeased with his side’s performance in their 2-1 defeat to Brighton on Saturday.

With Manchester United losing 1-0 at Everton in the early kick-off, Arsenal had the perfect opportunity to open up a big gap in the race for the Premier League fourth spot that will guarantee a return to the UEFA Champions League.

However, they were beaten in front of a full Emirates Stadium by the visiting Brighton, dealing a blow to their European ambitions.

“We were really poor,” Arteta told Arsenal.com. “Everything that we talked about and the way we prepared all week and the clarity that we had to start the game in a different way, in the end we didn’t produce it on the pitch and we have to be really honest with that.

“We didn’t give anything to our crowd to hang onto, we didn’t show enough purpose, speed, momentum, we didn’t generate anything that we wanted to do.

“We were imprecise, we had big distances after losing the ball and we didn’t create any momentum, which is very strange because if you had asked me before the game, it’s that they are ready to go, but in the end, we got frustrated.

“You can concede one goal and still be in the game, we had the big decision on the corner on Gabi Martinelli’s disallowed goal that probably was the crucial moment to change a little bit. In the second half we did change, the only shot they had, they scored the scored one, and we scored the first goal too late to give us a chance to get back in the game.”

Arteta however insists that the top four chase is far from over even as Tottenham Hotspur maintained fourth position with a 4-0 win at Aston Villa later on Saturday evening.

Spurs are just three points ahead of Arsenal having played one game more than the Gunners.

“We have everything to play for, there’s still big games to come up, eight games, we can still do it and we have to now take ownership and talk very little and start to performance,” the Spaniard added.

“First of all on Monday being in the right mind frame to acknowledge that everything is still there for us and we have worked so hard to be in this position and how much we want it and how willing we are to do everything that we can do to start performing to win football matches again.”