Arsenal's Premier League title chances suffered a major blow on Wednesday night as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.
Kevin De Bruyne capitalised on an error from Takehiro Tomiyasu to give the away side the lead in the first half before Bukayo Saka equalised from the penalty spot shortly before half-time. However, after the break City showed why they have won four of the last five league titles, turning it up a gear as goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland secured all three points for Pep Guardiola and co.
That result means that City have now gone above the Gunners for the first time in nearly six months, something that greatly impacted the mood in the home team's dressing room, according to the Independent. Their report claims that by the time Mikel Arteta returned from his post-match media duties, the mood was 'down', with players barely saying a word.
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Arteta is then said to have attempted to motivate the squad, telling his players they need to work out exactly why they were defeated before moving on. The Spaniard admitted to the media that he was frustrated by the self-inflicted nature of the loss.
"That’s the frustration", he said when asked if the result was Arsenal's own doing. "It’s exceptionally difficult to play at the level they require you to play to have a chance to win.
"I thought in many moments we did and we had them, but if you give three goals the way we did and don’t put away the big chances that we had the margin for error is almost zero. It’s a shame because we really had them."
Next up for the north Londoners is a trip to Villa Park on Saturday afternoon when they will take on Aston Villa, who are now managed by former Gunners boss Unai Emery.
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