‘Make some different decisions’ – Murphy slams Arsenal star over Bournemouth excuse | OneFootball

Danny Murphy has told Arsenal to “make some different decisions” after Viktor Gyokeres made an excuse about the pitch in their 2-1 loss to Bournemouth.

A Gyokeres penalty cancelled out Eli Junior Kroupi’s early opener for the Cherries as Arsenal struggled to show their best form against Andoni Iraola’s men.

And Alex Scott won the match for Bournemouth on 74 minutes with a cool finish as the Gunners lost their third match in four matches in all competitions.

Arsenal remain nine points ahead of Manchester City, who play Chelsea on Sunday, but the Citizens have two games in hand and face the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium on April 19.

Gyokeres blamed his side’s lack of fluency against Bournemouth on a dry pitch but Murphy thinks that excuse from the Arsenal striker is laughable.

Murphy said on Match of the Day: “Funnily enough, even it the pitch was dry I don’t think they played enough long balls.

“Bournemouth pressed them high and went man for man at the back. You’ve got Martinelli and Madueke who started the game I didn’t see them hit any long balls, play some percentages and try and spin them around.

“So if the pitch is dry, you’ve got international players make some different decisions.”

Reacting to his side’s performance and the impact on the Premier League title race, Arsenal boss Arteta said: “It’s a big punch in the face, and extremely disappointing. That’s what I said to the boys.

“There are no grey areas. Today there were some very basic things that we did extremely badly. When you do that, they’re going to capitalise, and it becomes very chaotic and very difficult to control.

“We have to look at ourselves. We have to suffer. It’s painful. It’s a terrible feeling. But tomorrow is a different day. And if somebody would have said to me in August, we are in this position right now in April, I’m sure we would all have taken it.”

Arteta on missing Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori, he added: “We can’t control that. What we can control is our performances over the last nine months.

“Anything that is said when you have a defeat at home, you have to accept that. There are no excuses. It’s about how we’re going to stand up, first of all, individually, and then as a team to change that immediately on Wednesday (against Sporting in the second leg).

“So, we need everything. We need everybody fit and available. The ones that were not involved today are really big, important players, and we need them immediately with us because then we’re going to be much stronger.

“And then the other ones, they need to stand up. Me, being the first one, and embrace this challenge and go for it.”