"A game of errors" – Arteta reacts to defeat at Bournemouth

Today at 03:27 PM

Mikel Arteta lamented “a game of errors” as Bournemouth inflicted a first defeat of the season on Arsenal at the Vitality.

Chasing a win to go top of the table, Arsenal endured a torrid afternoon. William Saliba was sent off after 30 minutes for bringing down striker Evanilson as he threatened to break through on goal, and from that moment, the Gunners lost control of the match.

After the break, Andoni Iraola’s side took charge. Ryan Christie broke the deadlock with 20 minutes remaining, firing into the top corner from a well-executed corner routine before David Raya conceded a penalty, which Justin Kluivert calmly converted to seal the 2-0 victory.

In truth, even with 11 men, Arsenal, missing Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, failed to convince in the final third.

“Very disappointed with the result,” Arteta told Sky Sports. “Obviously we came here to win the game and that’s the way we prepared it. Again, it’s tough enough to play against this opponent at home and we knew the first few moments were going to be very intense; high tempo, man-to-man situations, we had to cope with that. We started to get some momentum in the game, more control, better understanding and then after 30 minutes you’re down to 10 men and you have to play 67, 68 minutes in this league again with 10 men, and that’s an accident waiting to happen.

“We tried, we tried very hard, very smartly as well in many moments, we had the biggest chance in the game with [Gabriel] Martinelli and 0-0, you put that in and game on, a big chance to win it. At the other end, we concede a goal and then it’s very difficult. It’s a game of errors, tonight we made two big ones that cost us the game, it’s the third time we’ve played a game with 10 men and at this level it’s very complicated.”

“Credit to Bournemouth. But when you understand that an opponent has been better and they’ve done something different or you didn’t reach your level [that’s one thing] but today, it’s two mistakes.

“Again, they are part of football, it’s not the moment to put the finger into nobody because their attitude is excellent and they really wanted it and really tried, it’s been tough mentally as well to play for those long periods in this league in these conditions. Today, unfortunately, we paid the price.”

After going down to 10 men at Manchester City and against Brighton – games that ended in draws – the Gunners have had plenty of experience playing with their backs against the wall. However, on this occasion, the dynamic of the game was different. Instead of protecting a lead, there was a game to be won and it ultimately slipped out of view.

“It was a different context, we were on top, we were winning the game [against City and Brighton], it was very different. Today we had to win it. We changed certain things in the second half and we were much better and had many more situations and actions in the final third and we had the biggest chance. With 10 men you can have two or three situations, no more. And we didn’t capitalise on that and then we got punished.”

Asked about Saliba’s red card, which was dished out by referee Robert Jones following a VAR review by Jarred Gillett, Arteta said: “The decision has been made, it was made on the pitch, then it was changed on the pitch and certainly now they are not going to change it. So decision made.”

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