Mikel Arteta slammed Arsenal’s ‘not acceptable’ second-half display in a 3-0 loss at home to Brighton on Sunday evening which effectively ended the club’s title aspirations.
Manchester City opened up a four-point advantage at the Premier League summit with a 3-0 victory over Everton on Sunday afternoon. However, Arsenal squandered the chance to close the gap as Brighton swept to a convincing win by the same three-goal margin at the Emirates on the same evening.
In the wake of a tactical tightrope walk in the first half, the Paraguayan starlet Julio Enciso nodded Brighton ahead six minutes after the interval. Deniz Undav doubled Brighton’s advantage with a coolly lofted lob before Pervis Estupinan sealed three points in the closing stages, sending visiting manager Roberto De Zerbi into a knee slide on the Emirates turf.
With City one win away from sealing the title, Arteta was in a less celebratory mood.
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Speaking with a cracked voice, the visibly shaken Arsenal manager reflected to BBC’s Match of the Day: “We discussed that Brighton were difficult to chase against. The first half was very competitive. We should have capitalised better than we did. The second half was about keeping doing that and making a couple of adjustments but we conceded very early and after that it was the game they wanted. We tried to react but we gave a silly goal away and the team had no answers from 2-0.”
Just a week ago, Arsenal earned one of their most accomplished victories of the season, taming the raucous atmosphere at St James’ Park to earn a 2-0 victory which kept the Gunners one point behind City.
Arteta touched on the dramatic shift in performance that took place in the space of seven short days. “We knew the challenge we had today,” he said. “It was very different to the one we had at Newcastle. I was stood here and very proud of what we did last week but today we have to apologise to our people. We have to move on very quickly and not keep that feeling for a long time.”
It was put to an evidently distraught Arteta that there is plenty to still be proud about from Arsenal’s season. The club are on course to record their highest points tally since 2004 for one. However, Arteta admitted: “It is difficult to see that picture today.”
The Gunners have struggled in European competition this season and Arteta threw forward to their matches with the continental elite next term. “When the team shows the face in the second half it shows we have things to adjust,” the 41-year-old said. “Any time in this league can punish you and that would happen in the Champions League too.”
When speaking to Sky Sports, Arteta refused to official cede the title which has not yet been decided. “Mathematically, it’s still possible,” he meekly insisted, “but today it’s impossible to think about it. We need to digest the result and the performance in the second half, understand why and have a different reaction.”
