Arteta makes two complaints after Arsenal lose to Man City

Arsenal v Man City: Pictures

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has spoken out after his side’s 3-1 Premier League defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night. Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland gave the defending champions all three points. And the result means the Gunners now have work to do if they’re to win a first league title since 2004.

Arsenal had gone into the game against City seeking a return to winning ways, having failed to win their last three matches across all competitions.

Yet it was another difficult day at the office as Pep Guardiola’s side went to the top of the Premier League table.

De Bruyne put City ahead, capitalising on a mistake from Takehiro Tomiyasu, only for Bukayo Saka to level the proceedings from the penalty spot.

Arsenal huffed and puffed in search of a winner but, in the end, Guardiola’s side reigned supreme.

Grealish sparked wild celebrations in the away end, curling home in the 82nd minute following a neat pass from Ilkay Gundogan.

And Haaland then made the result safe on, bagging his 32nd goal of the campaign in the process.

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Speaking after the game, Arteta praised his side for the way they performed.

However, he also bemoaned the mistakes they made – as well as their inability to cop with City’s long balls.

“Huge battle – a battle that, especially until we conceded second goal, we had them,” he told Match of the Day.

“We had the feeling we could beat them but we gave them three goals and the game at the end.

“With certain errors at this level you can’t make. The team put the level very high at the same time.

“They were playing long balls and we suffered to get out of those zones and didn’t read the situation well enough, they punished us.”

Arteta did, however, insist he felt more confident of Arsenal winning the league title despite their defeat.

“I have more belief than I had before the game, with the performance and the level the team put in against City,” continued the Spaniard.

“They wanted to play a different game than the one we played and with the crowd we have we can do it.

“They still have it [the belief], I can sense it. They feel they can do it.

“The difference was in the boxes, they had three chances and they put them away. We had chances and we didn’t put them away.”

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard also spoke out after the game.

And he lamented his side’s failure to be ‘sharp enough’, echoing his manager’s words by saying: “The game is decided in the boxes and we were not sharp enough, in front of the goal and in our own as well.

“They were better. Apart from that, we played a good game, did many good things and had many good periods, but we have to be better in the boxes.

“It is football. Sometimes chances go in, sometimes not. But that is where we need to improve and be more clinical and defend our box. That is not just about one player, but the whole team.

“As we have said all season, work hard and take it game by game.

“It is the same now. It is one game we have lost here today and now we look to the next one. A new game on Saturday and we must come back and win.

“It was an unbelievable atmosphere and we are so grateful to everyone who came here today and made the game special.

“We will work hard to give them something to make them happy about.”

Man City striker Haaland, meanwhile, praised his side for getting the job done.

He said: ”City are, ‘we’ not me, are the champions so you can say so, yeah [that it was a champions’ performance].

“Small adjustment at half time from Pep and in the end we have good quality players and we have to get it out of every player and we did today.”

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