Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has slammed his side’s “really poor” first half as they stumbled again in the top four race with a 2-1 home loss to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
The Gunners’ defeat combined with Tottenham’s 4-0 rout at Aston Villa has left Arteta’s side in fifth and three points behind Spurs, who have played one more game.
Arsenal have now lost three of their past four league games, while Spurs have won four in a row, scoring 14 goals in the process.
“The first half was really poor again,” Arteta told reporters. “The reaction that we wanted to show and everything that we talked about, we didnt make it happen on the pitch.
“We were sloppy with the ball, we were second best again in a lot of situations, we didnt show any purpose or build any momentum in the game, play with the right speed and transform the game.”
He added: “What happens is, criticise ourselves a lot, get slapped again, because we were really poor in the first half, and lift ourselves up because we know that this route is taking us nowhere, especially where we want to be.
“We have everything to play for still in the last eight games that we have to have with that level of energy and visualising the challenge, the beautiful challenge that we have ahead, and dont sit back and lets see what happens.”
Meanwhile, Spurs boss Antonio Conte spoke glowingly about his side, with Son Heung-Min netting a hat-trick.
“It was a good win,” he said. “Its important because there are moments in the season when you fight to win something important – there are moments where you have not to fail. Today, this game was too important.”
Elsewhere, Chelsea dusted off some recent struggles with a dominant 6-0 win at Southampton, while Leeds United claimed an important 3-0 win at Watford in the relegation battle.
Everton also claimed an important three points with Anthony Gordon’s deflected strike getting them past Manchester United who are seventh and six points behind…
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