Arteta apologises to Arsenal fans after ‘big punch in the face’ | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta apologised to the Arsenal supporters after his side’s home defeat to Bournemouth.

Viktor Gyokeres had levelled the game at 1-1 from the penalty spot after Junior Kroupi’s opener but Alex Scott struck in the second half to give Arsenal a third defeat in four games.

“Apologise, take it on the chin, and that’s it,” Arteta said.

“What I’m trying to do is give our best to the club, give the responsibility to our players and I know if the atmosphere, the fans, the support, the energy in the stadium is the best in the world, we have a much better chance.

“I don’t think that there’s any other possibility to perform better than when you have that kind of support. But then we have to respond. And we had moments in the first half where we did it and there were other moments that we were on our level. So, yeah, we have to apologise to them and improve.”

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The defeat means the gap between the league leaders and second-placed Manchester City remains at nine points, with Pep Guardiola’s side having two games in hand.

Asked if nerves were a factor, Arteta responded: “We know what is at stake and the fact that as a club we haven’t done it for so long is a reason for that.

“We talked about the difficulty. But I just want to focus on the things that we can control, dominate. And we have done it. It’s not that we have to do a lot of new things that we haven’t done. No, no, let’s keep doing it.

“Almost all the things that we’ve done for nine months, because that’s what has taken us all the way there. And on Wednesday I saw a lot of them. And today, yeah, we’ve gone back.

“So we need to learn. We need to be very critical to ourselves and then pick ourselves up. Because on Wednesday, we have a big one coming up.

“Extremely disappointing. It’s a big punch on the face. That’s what I said to the boys. And now it’s about how we react to that. Because game on, you’re going to require now a big speed, a lot of fight and very clear.”

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