Arsenals Mikel Arteta: Bournemouth defeat a big punch in the face

Mikel Arteta lamented his Arsenal side’s “strange” performance in their 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday, saying the result was a “big punch in the face.”

Arsenal missed the chance to go 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium, with the door now open for the Manchester City side to cut the gap to six points at Chelsea on Sunday.

“It’s extremely disappointing. It’s a big punch in the face,” Arteta said on TNT Sports. “It’s about how we react now.

“Credit to them for what they did — they haven’t lost in 11 games for a reason. But we did a lot of strange things today.”

Arsenal have lost three of their four games in all competitions, having previously had three defeats in their previous 49 this season.

Viktor Gyökeres canceled out Junior Kroupi‘s opener in the first half, but Alex Scott scored the winner as Arteta’s side pushed forward. Despite several substitutions, Arsenal then couldn’t break down the visitors.

Arteta’s men were subjected to a rippling of boos at the final whistle.

“We were very far from the level that we’re expecting, that’s for sure,” Arteta added. “But again, I don’t want to criticize any players, especially here.”

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Arsenal face Sporting CP in a Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday — holding onto a one-goal lead — before heading to the Etihad to take on second-place City on April 19.

Arsenal have finished runners-up for the past three seasons, and their latest defeat not only hands the championship momentum to City, but again raises questions about their title-winning mentality.

But Arteta, who was without Bukayo Saka, Jurriën Timber, Martin Ødegaard and Riccardo Calafiori through injury on Saturday, said: “We can’t control that. What we can control is our performances over the last nine months.

“Anything that is said when you have a defeat at home, you have to accept that. There are no excuses. It’s about how we’re going to stand up, first of all, individually, and then as a team to change that immediately on Wednesday [against Sporting in the second leg].

“So, we need everything. We need everybody fit and available. The ones that were not involved today are really big, important players, and we need them immediately with us because then we’re going to be much stronger.

“And then the other ones, they need to stand up. Me, being the first one, and embrace this challenge and go for it.”

Information from PA and ESPN Global Soccer Research was used in this report.