‘It’s painful, I’m angry’

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta furious after shock home defeat to 16th-placed West Ham United; says defeat has jeopardised title prospects for Gunners

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was left “very, very angry” after his team’s Premier League title bid suffered a huge blow as West Ham stunned them 1-0 on Saturday night.

Second-placed Arsenal had a chance to close the gap in the title race with victory at the Emirates Stadium, but Arteta’s side stumbled to a first loss in 16 league games as Jarrod Bowen netted West Ham’s first half winner before the Gunners had Myles Lewis-Skelly sent off after the interval.

“We never got a grip of it. We didn’t generate a threat or momentum. It’s painful, but this is sport. We need to feel the pain today, I think we deserve that,” Arteta said, adding that their title prospects are “not in our hands.”

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta reacts after West Ham scored the opening goal on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images

Arteta added: “I’m really annoyed with the things that are in our hands, which is the performance and the result. We were nowhere near the levels that we have to hit to have the opportunity to win a Premier league. I’m very much responsible for that, so I’m very, very angry.”

Arsenal, whose last top-flight defeat came at Newcastle in November, are eight points behind Liverpool, who would move a massive 11 points clear if they beat spluttering City on Sunday night.

After coming off the bench to score twice in the closing stages of last weekend’s win at Leicester, Spain midfielder Mikel Merino started for injury-hit Arsenal as a makeshift striker. 

But Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge in the absence of Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka was exposed when Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s pin-point cross was headed in by Jarrod Bowen in the 44th minute. 

There was more misery for Arsenal in the 73rd minute when Lewis-Skelly brought down Mohammed Kudus as the West Ham forward surged away on the half way line. Lewis-Skelly was initially shown a yellow card but the defender’s punishment was increased to a red after referee Craig Pawson consulted the pitchside monitor.

The Gunners boss felt his players must use the weekend to reflect on their errors and find ways to get better. “Honestly, I think we have to look in the mirror at ourselves about what we can do better. For the next 24 or 48 hours we suffer and feel the pain and make sure that we come back to training on Monday with that bite and that anger still in the stomach for Wednesday,” Arteta concluded.

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