Mikel Arteta was in a sour mood after Arsenal were beaten by West Ham at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners produced an abject display against the Hammers, failing to break down a resolute defence with a lacklustre showing.
Jarrod Bowen’s first-half header was the difference, as the East London side’s impressive rearguard action negated Arsenal’s subdued attack.
Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off in the second half for cynically fouling Mohammed Kudus, but Arteta was keen not to use the dismissal as an excuse in a fired up press conference.
Mikel Arteta reveals what he was annoyed about in Arsenal v West Ham
Arsenal were ultimately let down by an impotent attacking unit on Saturday afternoon, that looked incapable of mounting serious pressure on West Ham’s goal.
Martin Odegaard has been criticised for his performance, and rightly so, as the Norwegian struggled to make an impact on the game.
The result leaves Arsenal eight points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, who take on Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday.
Asked about the title race in his press conference after the clash with the Irons, Arteta claimed that he’s more frustrated by his team’s performance than losing ground on the Merseysiders.
“It’s not in our hands,” the Spaniard said.
“I’m really, really annoyed of the things that were in our hands that we didn’t do as well as we possibly could, and that’s our performance and the result today.”
Evidently worked up about what his team was able to offer, Arteta is right to deflect conversation about the title race, in a desperate attempt to refocus his players on what they can control and to not think about what’s going against them.
Mikel Arteta on Arsenal’s lack of a striker
Arteta opted to start Mikel Merino up front after the Euro 2024 winner won Arsenal the game against Leicester last weekend with two goals.
Unfortunately for the tactician, this roll of the dice didn’t pay dividends as Merino looked lost as a number nine for the entire 90 minutes.
Asked if the difficulty to score vindicated why he was so vocal about wanting a striker, Arteta dismissed this.
He replied: “No, no, no, honestly again I think we have to look in the mirror of ourselves of what we can do better, what we have done and the will and the desire and the way we run and the way we want it, zero question about that.
“But at that level this is not enough, you have to deliver and it has to be with a lot of quality to break a really good team down, to win many more games than we have done and to put actions that can end up in really threatening moments for the position to win the games and today we haven’t done that.”
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