Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted that his side were second best in their 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United at St James Park on Saturday.
The Gunners fell to their second loss in three English Premier League fixtures as Alexander Isak’s early goal sealed their fate.
“We started the game really well. I think we were on top of it, we looked sharp, we looked alive and then in one action, direct play, second ball which they are really good at,” Arteta said during his post-match press conference.
“They put the ball in behind with an unbelievable cross and finish. After that, momentum changes, the energy shifts, they know how they want to play and it’s clear and then you get two options in that kind of game.
“We weren’t good enough and didn’t have enough answers to get out of that, especially creating the threat that we needed, so at the end, you are reliant on two or three big chances that we had with Mikel, two with Declan and one with Gabi.”
With just one point in their last three matches, Arsenal have fallen to fourth spot in the table, now seven points behind leaders Liverpool.
Arteta acknowledged that his side’s performances lately have not been impressive.
“I understand that the last eight, nine, 10 games last year we didn’t talk about it, and we’re not going to talk about it now. It’s about how we react,” the Spaniard said as he looked forward to the UEFA Champions League in midweek.
“We’re not going to find the right answers or words right now to describe, but how we feel, we certainly have to put it out on that field on Wednesday night against Inter.”
Arsenal finished a close second to Manchester City the last two Premier League seasons, and Arteta insists that the pressure to be in the title race again is not getting to him and his players.
He said: “I didn’t feel that. I think I would’ve felt that at the beginning of the game and I didn’t have that feeling. What I did feel, especially when we had to come from behind, was that we lacked more purpose, more threat and more capacity to really go and hurt them.
“We gave the ball away, I think we gave 17/18 free-kicks away, so that stops the game constantly, so it’s not a good outcome for us.”
On Martin Odegaard, whose absence due to an injury has coincided with the Gunners’ dodgy form, Arteta said: “We don’t have him.
“You know, we can discuss all day long that at the moment we don’t have him, we haven’t had him for the last four to six weeks and we don’t have him yet, but we have many other answers which have been very effective.
“Today, we need to look at ourselves, congratulate Newcastle and move on.”
The Arsenal boss also rued his side’s lack of cutting edge in front of goal and inability to deal with Newcastle’s physicality.
