Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reacts during the defeat against Aston Villa (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta shared his thoughts with the press following his side’s 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday in the Premier League kick-off.
The Gunners suffered only their second defeat of the entire season in all competitions, but it now means Manchester City have closed the gap at the top of the table, now just two points behind Arteta’s side.
See every word from Arteta’s post-match press conference below as he discussed the mood after that result, the latest on Cristian Mosquera’s injury, and more…
Mikel Arteta’s press conference in full
By losing with the last kick of the match…
We’re obviously extremely disappointed with the way we lost the game, but first and foremost I want to congratulate Villa because they’re a really good team and they’re really good at what they do. We had some difficulties in the first half, especially with some very unusual giveaways that we gave after winning the ball, which is a really dangerous moment against them. But other than the Watkins situation, which is a foul, I don’t remember anything other than the goal.
The second half, we started really well, much more positive. We generated chances, scored the goal and I had a feeling we were going to go on and win the game. We could have lost him before, again with two very dangerous individual gifts, and we didn’t. We had two chances to score, the last one with the ball towards Declan and we didn’t take advantage of it. The next goal kick [went] long, there it goes, second ball, we put it away for a throw-in, they played fast, a lot of chaos in the box and they managed to put the ball in the top corner, which is the quality of this league, so that’s the summary.
On the impact of the result…
It’s the league. You go to Old Trafford, you go to St James Park, you go to Chelsea, you come here – we have been through a lot of difficult pitches and today the result could have been different. The reality is not the same, and this is the step we must take. We have been undefeated for 18 matches and we are still here, very close to each other. This is league level and we know it. This is the opportunity presented to us and that’s it. Now is the time to bounce back. They gave me every good reason to think that we’re going to continue to play at the same level, because what the boys tried to do today, again, with the schedule that we had, it was incredible. SO, [we] pass.
MORE: Did you notice these THREE big problems for Arsenal in the defeat to Villa?
To find out if the meeting schedule played a role…
I don’t know. At one point I thought we were going to win, then there were times when we gave very strange gifts that had nothing to do with us. But it’s also football, but the boys are ready to give it their all, they tried. The situation with Leo is the same: he was only able to play a certain number of minutes. We made the decision to do it [the sub] earlier and we had to do it afterwards, that’s why we had to change it, learn from it and start again.
On having to rotate the defense due to injuries…
It is like that, and we also have to deal with it for a while, we know that. And the team must be able to adapt to this, without making excuses. Obviously we know what these two [Gabriel and William Saliba] bring, especially in a game like this. But the other two [Piero Hincapie and Jurrien Timber]I think they were exceptional today too.
On his comeback from behind in previous matches…
We try and we have done it on several occasions and today I certainly felt like we could do it, but the game was constantly on the limit as we also conceded two goals. Very dangerous, and again in those open, man-to-man situations in the back row, they’re really good at attacking those channels. We are going to have to learn from it, from the way we conceded the first goal too, very far from our standards, so these are learnings that we can take for ourselves and then give credit to the opponent too because I think they are a very good team.
And if Aston Villa are in the title race…
They are. When you look at where they are, how they are playing, they have beaten great teams, especially at home. Everyone will have to play against everyone, so at the moment they are where they are and we are there too.
On Cristhian Mosquera’s injury…
He’s going to be out for weeks unfortunately, which is way longer than we expected. But the player felt it, so he’s going to be out for weeks.
On the mood of the players after the match…
Everything they put in over the last two weeks and the results we got, the performances and to lose like that emotionally is very touching. You just feel like everything you put in isn’t worth it. But it’s worth it because we’ll learn again today and it will make us a better team again.
On dealing with the ups and downs of the Premier League…
It’s been five months since the competition started and so far we’ve been doing well. But we will have to prove again and again that we can hold out for another six months, that’s the level. If we think we’re going to be in this moment 10 points ahead, I think we live in a different world.
