Arsenal’s coach, Mikel Arteta, warned that they can’t play like they did on Sunday against Fulham if they want to compete for the Premier League title. He said it was their “worst game of the season.” Arsenal didn’t do well after getting an early lead, losing 2-1 and dropping to fourth place by the end of the year, even though they were at the top of the table at Christmas.
Mikel Arteta on the loss against Fulham
Arsenal’s attempt to win the title got worse as they lost another game in the Premier League to Fulham on Sunday. Mikel Arteta’s team seemed like they might recover from their previous loss to West Ham when Bukayo Saka scored first at Craven Cottage. But Arsenal couldn’t increase their lead, and Fulham equalized before halftime with a goal from Raul Jimenez.
“We weren’t good enough; it’s as simple as that. We conceded two very similar goals, and we didn’t generate enough today,” Arteta said.
“Our rhythm wasn’t good enough in attack, and we were second best in our reaction in defence. We had a great performance against Liverpool [drew 1-1], and we had a great performance against West Ham [lost 2-0], but we didn’t win. Today was the one you have to isolate because it was the worst performance of the season,” he added.
Arteta tried to make his team improve by putting in players like Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard, and Reiss Nelson in the second half. However, these changes didn’t help, and Fulham still won the game.
“We tried to change the dynamic of the game and to have much more threat in our actions, but we never got going because we gave every ball away and could not dominate the direct play. If you don’t do that, it’s very difficult to get any momentum,” he further added.
Now, Arsenal will focus on playing in the FA Cup. They have a match against Liverpool in the third round at the Emirates on January 7. After that, they’ll play in the Premier League again on January 20, hosting Crystal Palace.
