Mikel Arteta stressed his "love" for his players after Arsenal just lost their second league game of the season to beleaguered Everton.
James Tarkowski scored the only goal at Goodison Park as Sean Dyche got off to a flying start in his managerial life. The Gunners got even closer when Bukayo Saka's shot at goal was turned away by Connor Coady beyond the line.
Second-placed Manchester City can narrow the gap to just two points on Sunday by beating Arsenal's north London rivals Tottenham, but Arteta downplayed his composure after the match.
Asked if his players were feeling the pressure, Arteta said: "No, I don't think so, we've played a lot of games like this season.
"But respect them, they practice that every day. You have to defend very well to gain control and earn the right to play. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't do well enough to dominate the game.
“In the last 10-15 minutes, especially after we made changes, we started to do a lot of free kicks and a lot of hasty decisions.
"That's what they want - slow the game down, make things really long, play your lines long, and don't play too much. We didn't handle it well enough.
"I want the team to know how much I love them. I love them more now than three hours ago, a week ago, a month ago, or three months ago.
"It's easy to be there for the players when they are winning and performing well. Those were the moments when I loved my players and my staff more and we will stick together.
“This journey will be difficult and challenging and there will be big rocks in the middle and we will have to overcome them. Now we have to prepare very well for the week to be in the right emotional frame to beat Brentford on Saturday. "
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