Mikel Arteta was left almost speechless after watching Arsenal’s title hopes suffer a potential fatal blow at St James’ Park.
Arsenal slumped to a crushing 1-0 defeat thanks to Alexander Isak’s first half header. Arteta’s flops have now gone three league games without a win, and taken just one point from a possible nine.
The result meant the Gunners found themselves seven points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, and, depending on how results go on Sunday, out of the top four. A seething Arteta admitted his players got what they deserved on Tyneside.
The Spaniard was so angered with his side’s performance he struggled to find the words to describe it. Arteta, whose side face Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday night, said: “We deserved to lose.
“I thought we started really well and were really dominant. But we didn’t defend the box well enough. Credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.
(Image: George Wood/Getty Images)
“Then the game changes and you start to play a different game. You have to adapt and we didn’t do that well enough.”
Arteta added: “I am very frustrated. We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly, and we couldn’t play the game that we wanted. We lacked answers.
“We can say whatever we want, but we will struggle to find the words. We have to show it on the pitch on Wednesday night. You have to be at your best every time to give yourself a chance to win.”
Arsenal star William Saliba admitted the result had left the dressing room devastated, but urged his side to bounce back. He said: “We are all a bit sad because we wanted to win.
“Unfortunately we didn’t and we didn’t play the game we wanted to play. We deserved to lose, I think. We have to stick together. Last season we had one period like this, and we need to stay together and have the confidence to get out of it.
“I think we didn’t play how we wanted to play, and they were good as well. But it’s OK, we are focused on the next week and it is not finished. We all believe we will come back.”