Mikel Arteta has urged his Arsenal squad to lift themselves back up after suffering a dramatic 2-1 defeat late on at Aston Villa on Saturday.Â
Emi Buendia delivered the decisive blow deeping into stoppage time of a highly entertaining tie at Villa Park after Leandro Trossard cancelled out Matty Cash’s opener.
The Villans have cut the deficit to Arsenal to just three points as they move up to second in the Premier League table after 15 matches.
Arteta urges Arsenal to ‘go again’ after ‘painful’ title blow
“In the manner it happened at the end, really difficult to take,” Arteta told TNT Sports after the full-time whistle.
“In the first half we had moments. They had the best chance, but I think it was a foul on Riccy [Riccardo Calafiori] when [Ollie] Watkins goes through.
“After that we started to control the game and had some good situations. But you are always on the edge, especially when you don’t manage the ball well when you regain it. We didn’t do that well in the first half.
“In the second half, we started very well. We scored the goal, we were dominant. But then we had periods where the same issue appeared.
“We didn’t have the dominance, we allowed open spaces. We gave two balls away that could have cost us the game before the actual goal.
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“And then we don’t score the chance when Declan [Rice] puts the ball across to Noni [Madueke] and Viktor [Gyokeres]. We don’t score, goal kick long, second ball, clear the ball, an individual action, a lot of chaos in the box, and you end up losing it. So it is painful.”
Arteta added: “We have to focus on ourselves and certain standards that today, particularly individually, we didn’t reach.
“The effort was absolutely there. We have to use that pain to go again. That’s football.
“The consistency levels we have shown with everything that’s happened with us has been incredible.”
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