Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal must win after passing up a "huge" chance to close the gap on Tottenham
Despite having 23 shots on goal, Arsenal were defeated 1-0 at Southampton; the Gunners missed the opportunity to tie Tottenham on points; Arteta: "We need to find a way to win football matches."
Despite having 23 shots and knowing that a win would have brought them level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham, the Gunners were defeated 1-0 by Southampton thanks to a first-half goal by Yan Bednarek.
Despite the absence of striker Alexandre Lacazette, who tested positive for Covid, the visitors created enough chances and were denied by goalkeeper Fraser Forster's string of fine saves.
The Gunners have dropped to sixth place, trailing Manchester United following their 3-2 victory over Norwich with Arteta admitting his side's top-four challenge has lost its impetus.
"It certainly has," he said, "and we need to find a way to win football games."
"What we can do is play as well as we can to get the team as close to winning football matches as possible, which we did again today. The stats will say, 'How the hell did we lose that game?' but the truth is that we did."
Arsenal had only six shots on goal out of 23 attempts, but Forster made two particularly impressive saves, one in the first half to deny Bukayo Saka and the other in the second to tip an effort from Emile Smith Rowe behind. It's the third time this season that they've had more than 20 shots on goal but haven't scored.
Southampton wins thanks to Jan Bednarek.
"It's difficult to explain because we're talking about football, not basketball. In any other sport, you would easily win the game "Arteta stated this during his post-match press conference.
"At the end of the day, it's decided in the boxes; they scored one goal, we didn't for all the time we spent around the box, the clear-cut chances we had, we didn't put them in the goal because they have an exceptional goalkeeper today, and we didn't have enough quality to break them down."
It's all we've got. The players we have don't have a track record in this league. The league has had world-class players for ten years. I am the first to defend and support them, as you can see how they tried. The only way to do it is to insist.
What happened today could happen again next week or next month."
On Wednesday, Arsenal will face Chelsea live on Sky Sports before facing Manchester United and West Ham in a crucial period.
When asked how big an opportunity Arsenal had missed to catch up to Tottenham, Arteta said: "Massive. It is very disappointing and difficult to explain in words, but this is sport, and it is what distinguishes it from others."
I can't think of a single game this season in which Arsenal created more and better chances. But the end result is what we need to get to where we need to go. We will not be present if we are unable to do so."
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