Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta: ‘You cannot win football matches if you keep making mistakes’

Premier League

ASTON VILLA 1 (Watkins 2)
ARSENAL 0

MIKEL Arteta insisted the “better team” lost after Arsenal’s misery in the West Midlands continued this afternoon (Saturday) against Aston Villa.

Boyhood Gooner Ollie Watkins did the damage, scoring what proved to be the winner with less than two minutes on the clock.

Former Arsenal keeper Emiliano Martinez certainly had one standout moment, producing an excellent save to keep out Granit Xhaka’s rasping free-kick in the first-half. But otherwise the shot-stopper enjoyed a fairly routine afternoon.

His newest replacement at Arsenal, however, had to make a series of crucial saves that would have earned him the man-of-the-match award had the north Londoners salvaged anything from the game.

Debutant Mat Ryan stayed big to deny Bertrand Traore just before half-time, and in a busy second-half twice pulled off acrobatic saves to thwart Watkins, while also reacting well to keep out John McGinn and Jack Grealish.

Shots on target? Villa managed eight to Arsenal’s three. So fans watching at home might be bemused, and a little concerned, by Arteta’s take on the action.

“I’m extremely disappointed to lose and the way we lost it,” admitted the Gunners boss. “We were the better team.

“We controlled every department but we gave them the ball. We gave them another three big chances. Then when we had to score the goal, we didn’t find the right pass or the right shot.”

Perhaps having flashbacks to the 2-1 defeat at Wolves in midweek, Arteta added: “We just gave them the ball, a moment you make a mistake and they punish you.

“You cannot win football matches if every week you do something like that. We deserved to win both games by far but we lost both.”

The fact of the matter is you can’t climb the Premier League table by almost winning games, or deserving to take three points but not even managing to take one.

The nature of the goal the Gunners gifted Villa highlighted not only bad defending, but the fact that in the 90-plus-minutes that followed Arsenal rarely looked like scoring themselves.

Traore made the most of some lax defending between Cedric Soares and Gabriel, stealing in to set-up Watkins for a close-range finish with only 74 seconds on the clock.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is working his way back into the Gunners team having recently taken leave to care for his ill mother, came on for the final 30 minutes but, despite a spell of sustained pressure towards the end, Arteta’s side failed to score for the third time in five games.

Instead it was Villa who enjoyed the best of the chances, while Arsenal aimlessly put balls in the box and gave Aubameyang very little to feed off.

The 1-0 defeat condemned Arteta’s side to their 10th defeat of the season, leaving them 10th in the table – and likely to drop further when results elsewhere hit home. So despite what the manager is seeing, Arsenal might just be getting what they deserve from games.

Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Nakamba, Barkley (Ramsey, 78), McGinn, Traore (Trezeguet, 66), Grealish, Watkins
Substitutes not used: Heaton, Engels, Elmohamady, Luiz, Sanson, El Ghazi, Davis

Arsenal: Ryan, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Cedric (Odegaard, 65), Partey (Willian, 74), Xhaka, Saka, Smith Rowe, Pepe, Lacazette (Aubameyang, 59)
Substitutes not used: Runarsson, Chambers, Mari, Elneny, Ceballos, Martinelli