Mikel Arteta after Arsenal lose to West Ham: ‘Nowhere near the levels’ | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta says Arsenal were nowhere near the levels to win the Premier League after losing 1-0 to West Ham.

Jarrod Bowen’s goal late in the first half was enough to defeat the Gunners, with Myles Lewis-Skelly’s second half red card compiling the title chasing north Londoners’ misery further.

Despite dominating large spells of the match, the 42-year-old never felt his side were at the level to win the match:

“Very disappointed, obviously very angry as well,” Arteta said. “I think you have to congratulate West Ham for the victory and the game that they played.

“But as well I think a lot from our side that we never got right and they didn’t allow us to get enough momentum, enough sequence of play with positive action that could deliver into situations of threat for them.

“And even though the ball that we had and 20 shots of that, I never felt that we were at the standard and the level that we needed.

“First of all to have more threat and then not to allow them to run because we lost a lot of balls that we allowed West Ham to run in very dangerous positions.”

Arsenal looked out of ideas towards the end of the match, as they struggled to deal with West Ham’s low defensive line as the clock ticked down.

When asked whether people would question the defeat through Arsenal’s injuries, Arteta refuted that claim, stating he and his players had to be much better:

“I refuse that completely because I am talking about the standards of the players and the team that we played today, me included.

“And that was nowhere near the levels that we have to hit to have the opportunity to win a Premier League. Today no, we were very consistent, yes, but football is about what you do today and today, nowhere near.”