Mikel Arteta conceded he was ‘really upset’ after Arsenal’s defeat to Brighton and said his team ‘deserved a slap’ as they suffered a huge blow in the top-four race.
The Gunners are threatening to blow their UEFA Champions League qualification after suffering consecutive defeats to Brighton and Crystal Palace.
Graham Potter’s Brighton had gone seven matches without a win before their trip to the Emirates but completely outplayed Arsenal to win 2-1.
Leandro Trossard curled home a fine finish to put Brighton in front in the first half and Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli was denied an equaliser on the stroke of half-time after a four-minute VAR check.
But Arsenal failed to build on their momentum and went two goals behind when Enock Mwepu rifled a shot past goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Martin Odegaard scored late on but it proved nothing more than a consolation as the Gunners slipped three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham, who smashed Aston Villa in the evening.
‘It has been a tough week; especially today because we wanted a reaction [to the defeat at Crystal Palace].’ Arteta said.
‘It came in the second half, which is too late; we have to have the courage and personality to play much better and raise the level in the first half.
‘We made it really difficult for ourselves. We were sloppy, we had no purpose to attack, we were really imprecise and we didn’t want to play forward.
‘We’ve shown for many weeks how well we can play; it has been a difficult week and we’ve lost some big players, but if you get what you want, not everything is going to be with a blue sky.
‘This is our team in the good moments and especially the defeats. There are many games to play but we have to be concerned about that performance, especially first half.’
Asked how Arsenal plan to respond to the two defeats, Arteta added: ‘What happens is we criticise ourselves a lot again, get slapped again because we deserve it and then lift ourselves up.
‘We know this road is taking us nowhere, especially with where we want to be. We have everything to play for in the last eight games and we have to have that energy and visualise the beautiful challenge that we have ahead and not sit back and see what happens.’
Brighton boss Potter said: ‘It is a fantastic performance from the players and an even better result; I’m delighted for them.
‘We’ve had a tough time, but we reset with a strong performance against Norwich and a really good one today. You can see how tough it is to win games in the Premier League.
‘We had to hang on and suffer, but we did and the result makes it worth it. You have to be disciplined and good defensively here. Arsenal are a team who are competing for the Champions League places.
‘They are top quality and we respected that; I didn’t think we could hang on for the 1-0, we had to score again. Delighted we did that, but even then, we had to suffer at the end.’
