Arteta: Top teams do not make mistakes like Arsenal do

Mikel Arteta condemned Arsenal’s repeated mistakes after another damaging defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday.

The Gunners’ seven match unbeaten run in the Premier League came to an end at Wolves in midweek when both David Luiz and Bernd Leno were sent off.

And another loss swiftly followed against Villa after Cedric Soares gifted the only goal of the game to the home side, Ollie Watkins netting a scruffy effort from Bertrand Traore’s centre.

Cedric’s mistake was the sole error leading to a shot in the entire match, but it was a costly one.

Arsenal had 66.3 per cent of the possession and 14 shots to Villa’s 12 yet only troubled the target three times, failing to create a single big chance from which Opta would expect the visitors to score.

Arteta told BBC Sport that Arsenal “controlled every department” but Villa were “better in the boxes”.

In his post-match news conference, the Arsenal manager reiterated his displeasure at his team’s continued sloppiness – including a league-high five red cards this term.

“Those [top] teams cannot make those mistakes,” Arteta said. “Those teams cannot play, in the first 22 games of the season, four or five times with 10 men.

“It doesn’t happen. There is not a team in the world that can sustain that.

2 – Emiliano Martínez is the third goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in their first two Premier League appearances against a club they’ve previously appeared for in the competition after Shaka Hislop vs Newcastle (1998-99) and Mark Schwarzer vs Middlesbrough (2008-09). Missed. pic.twitter.com/EPUyNFcUwu

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 6, 2021

“Still, if you make an error or concede a goal early, the team has to react; the team reacted and we had more than enough to come back and still win the game.

“If you don’t do one [keep goals out], you have to do the other [score goals].

“If you don’t do either of them when you have the chances and you are not ruthless enough in the opponents’ box, unfortunately you lose the game.”

Another defeat left Arsenal nine points off the top four having played a game more.

Arteta added: “It’s a big blow. Considering the performances we put in in both games [this week], we got zero points.

“We have to come back. We’ve done it this season; we have to do it again.”

Arteta was visibly frustrated by refereeing decisions as Ezri Konsa avoided a red card for bringing down Bukayo Saka, while Emi Martinez appeared to tug Alexandre Lacazette’s shirt in the area.

He refused to discuss the incidents in his news conference, though, telling BBC Sport: “Regardless of what the referee did today, we should win the game comfortably.”