‘100%…’ Mikel Arteta doubles down on Arsenal’s Champions League campaign in defiant message to fans

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Arsenal crashed out of the Champions League in disappointing fashion on Wednesday night.

Paris Saint-Germain beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Parc des Princes, sealing a 3-1 aggregate victory for Luis Enrique’s side.

The Gunners were good in large portions of the second leg, but ultimately lacked the offensive firepower to overcome the French giants.

Arsenal created more than three expected goals in Paris, indicating that they dominated the clash based on the balance of chances created, but weren’t able to convert these chances into goals.

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Mikel Arteta doubles down on Arsenal ‘deserve’ claim

Arteta claimed Arsenal were better than PSG over two legs, with the stats supporting this argument.

The Spaniard also revealed his belief that the Gunners were the best team throughout the competition, another take that is largely backed up by the data.

However, these comments unsurprisingly caused backlash, both from opposition fans and Arsenal supporters.

Speaking to the media on Friday afternoon, Arteta doubled down on his beliefs.

Asked if he stands by his comments, he said: “100%. I’m watching it back, I’m watching all the stats. Obviously, we have the best stats and the best goal difference in the semi-final, so it’s very clear.

“But it’s not about the winning probability or what you’ve managed, it’s actually making it happen and making it count. When you look at the important stats that normally give you the best platform to win football matches, it’s crystal clear who was better.”

This stubbornness is only likely to exacerbate the hostile headlines towards Arteta and increase the frustration towards him, but he’s evidently trying to send a defiant message to the fanbase.

Attempting to cultivate unity in the club, he’s trying to display how close Arsenal were, to create hope moving forward.

The stats show Arsenal were better than PSG

While the stats don’t always perfectly portray a game, they relatively accurately show you what happened in both legs against PSG.

The first leg was largely even, with PSG dominating the early exchanges before Arsenal recovered.

However, the second leg was a lot more one-sided, with Arsenal taking the initiative and looking to claw back the deficit that PSG had created.

The game state certainly has to be considered as a factor; Arsenal were bound to be on the front foot, trying to score as PSG were the side protecting a lead.

What this ultimately shows is that Enrique’s team aren’t particularly effective at defending a lead and a mixture of poor finishing and great goalkeeping bailed them out.

However, if Ousmane Dembele hadn’t given PSG such an early lead in the first leg, the complexion of the game could’ve looked so different.

There’s no doubt that the Ligue 1 outfit could’ve offered more offensively if they’d needed to.