Mikel Arteta said that Arsenal’s poor defence cost them a chance to stay ahead of Premier League leaders Liverpool and that they must accept responsibility for their devastating 2-2 draw against Aston Villa.
When the Gunners played Villa at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, they had no room for error following Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Brentford earlier in the day.
By the 55th minute, Arteta’s team had a two-goal lead thanks to goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz, putting them on track to close the gap on Liverpool by four points.
However, Arsenal fell apart halfway through the second half as Youri Tielemans cut the deficit before Ollie Watkins, a lifelong Gunners supporter, equalised eight minutes later.
Liverpool now leads Arsenal by six points and has a game left over the second-place North Londoners, dealing a crushing blow to Arsenal’s prospects of winning a first championship since 2004.
Arteta acknowledged that Arsenal’s defensive errors that let Villa back into the match were their fault.
“I’m proud of how the boys competed and played for the third time in six days.” They were exceptional in delivering that performance and that supremacy. It’s obvious that we deserved much more,” he remarked.
“But our game cannot include the way we defended, particularly the second goal.
“If you want to win all the time, you can’t give up the two goals. It falls well short of the requirements we have.”
After losing 2-0 to Newcastle in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final and losing to 10-man Manchester United in the FA Cup third round, Arsenal has only won one of its past five games in all competitions.
Although Wednesday’s 2-1 victory against Tottenham, a rival team in north London, appeared to have given Arsenal new life, their patchy play this season once again surfaced at the worst possible moment.
Havertz denied Mikel Merino’s late winner for handball, although Arteta commended his team for their hard work following Villa’s equaliser.
They were outstanding. For ninety-seven minutes, some athletes who were dead performed in this manner. “They don’t search for justifications or the bench to figure out what to do,” Arteta stated.
“Since I’ve been here, that was the best game we played against Villa. They are a positive aspect. We are playing at such a high level both offensively and defensively.
“However, something was lacking. We must find the line because it is so thin. After everything we did today, we cannot give up the two goals we scored.”
This season, Arsenal has fallen 12 points short of winning spots in the Premier League, the most they have done in a single season since 2019-20.
“It looks like a handball in one of the cameras,” Arteta said, without objecting to the disallowed goal.
“It’s challenging because you lose out on the celebration and our feelings. Not simple.”
As they attempted to earn a spot in the Champions League for the second consecutive season, Villa’s comeback put them in seventh place, only two points outside of the top four.
The Gunners were once again tormented by their manager, Unai Emery, who was fired in 2019 after less than two seasons in command.
The Spanish player could enjoy undermining Manchester City’s most recent title challenge because Villa’s two victories over Arsenal last season were crucial in keeping his old team from overtaking them.
“The way the team responded to the two goals was amazing. We attempted to score today and never gave up in our mindset,” Emery remarked.
“Even though Arsenal was exerting pressure and creating some opportunities, we still had another objective.
“At home, Arsenal is quite strong. We still have work to do because they are strong, but this is the level we want to be near. The only way to obtain anything here is to finish as we did.”
