Mikel Arteta admitted 10 man Arsenal had only themselves to blame after crashing to their first defeat of the campaign.
William Saliba’s 30th-minute red card – the club’s third of the season – proved too much of a setback as they conceded twice after the break at Bournemouth. And Arteta accepted the Gunners’ latest dismissal was behind their poor display on the south coast.
The Spaniard rapped: “We are very disappointed with the result and gutted we had to play in that context again. It was even more difficult than the previous two we have faced this season. To do it with 65 with 10 men at this level, it’s just an impossible task.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen not to get the points but I cannot fault the team for their effort, their commitment, to play in the way we had to do.” Asked if he is concerned that the North Londoners poor discipline is going to wreck their title chances, Arteta insisted they must improve their record with refs.
The Gunners chief, whose side blew the chance to go top, added: “We have to look at ourselves. We made two big errors that cost us the game, unfortunately. There are things that we have discussed in relation to these topics.
(Image: PA)
“What happens today is almost unpredictable. It’s very to difficult to plan it. But certainly we need to play with 11 versus 11 to be in the position that we want to be.”
Saliba was initially shown yellow for his foul on Evanilson before VAR intervened. Arteta went on: “It was a decision made on the pitch, then the decision was changed.
“But we must use the pain we’re feeling now to bounce back. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves that – it’s happened three times in eight matches.”