Mikel Arteta has admitted that Arsenal’s overplaying in defence cost them in their Premier League defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday evening.
Errors from Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Magalhaes on the ball – both of whom misplaced passes in their own defensive third – proved to be crucial in Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat to City as the visitors capitalised on both to score two of their three goals on the night.
When asked on Prime Video if overplaying in and around their own penalty area cost Arsenal in the top-of-the-table clash, manager Arteta replied:
“In certain areas of the pitch, especially after regaining the ball deep, yes. You don’t play there, you have to play a different game and we didn’t read those situations well enough.”
Arteta also rued his side’s missed chances in the game, particularly in the first half when the Gunners were largely in control of proceedings.
“We’re disappointed because, in the end, we lost it. And I see we because we lost it,” he said.
“I think it was an incredible battle between two teams and when we had them – and we had them – we just gave them the goals. We absolutely gave them the goals. And against this team they’re going to destroy you [for doing that] and they did.
“On the other hand we had three big, big chances and we didn’t put them away and that was the difference.
“To beat them we have to be above our level because they are such a good team who have the quality that they have. We absolutely matched them and we had them in big moments but the games are defined with individual moments, especially in the box, and they were better than us there.”
The defeat sees Arsenal slump to second in the Premier League, behind Manchester City on goal difference. However, the Gunners will take some solace in the fact that they have a game in hand.
