Mikel Arteta admits Arsenal ‘DESERVED to lose’ against Newcastle – as the Gunners boss keeps quiet on title race talk after falling seven points behind leaders Liverpool
Mikel Arteta admitted his Arsenal side deserved to lose against Newcastle United as their title hopes were dealt a hammer blow.
Alexander Isak’s first-half header subjected the Gunners to a third consecutive league match without a win. It follows the 2-2 draw against Liverpool and 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth, which now sees the north London club on the edge of crashing out of title contention.
A frustrated Arteta said: ‘We deserved to lose today. I thought we started really well and were really dominant. We didn’t defend the box well enough, credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.
‘Then the game changes and you start to play a different game. You have to adapt and we didn’t do that well enough. I am very frustrated.
‘We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly and we couldn’t play the game that we wanted.
Mikel Arteta admitted his Arsenal side deserved to lose against Newcastle on Saturday
Alexander Isak’s first-half header proved to be the decider in the clash at St James’ Park
The Gunners managed to register just a single shot on target throughout the game
‘We had two big chances — Mikel (Merino) had a big one, Declan (Rice) had a big one. We lacked answers.’
On their proximity to Man City in the title race, he added: ‘I understand that, but after eight, nine or 10 games last year we didn’t (talk about it) and we won’t talk about it now.
‘It’s about how you react to that. We’re not going to find the right words or answers to describe how we feel. We have to put it on that field on Wednesday night against Inter (Milan).’
William Saliba, who returned from a one-game suspension, was similarly frustrated by the display and echoed his manager’s assessment.
Saliba said: ‘We are all a bit sad because we wanted to win today. Unfortunately we didn’t and we didn’t play the game we wanted to play. We deserved to lose today I think.
‘I have to be better than my last game. I was not so good. I have to be back at my good level. After I will be good we will better but I have to work to get back to my best level.’
Eddie Howe was effusive of the Magpies after Newcastle broke a five-game winless streak in the league with an inspired performance.
Howe said: ‘You have to be really strong mentality and know results will turn if you continue to do the right things.
Isak met Anthony Gordon’s cross and nodded beyond David Raya after just 12 minutes
Liverpool’s come-from-behind win over Brighton sees them move seven points clear of Arsenal
‘Today’s performance was built on hard work, desire and a lot of really good defending in the second half. I thought we looked good.’
On Arteta’s comment of Newcastle dragging teams into the style of game ‘they are looking for constantly’, he added: ‘It’s irrelevant to me what anyway says really, apart from my team. That’s how we’ve always looked at it.
‘There is always outside noise, wherever it comes. We just try to do what we do to try and win games on a consistent basis.’
