United loss down to too many errors, says Arteta as a Martin Zubimendi mistake led to Bryan Mbeumo equaliser.
Arteta rues errors as Arsenal’s title tilt stalls with United loss.
On a weekend when Arsenal’s lead in the Premier League title chase was reduced to four points, Mikel Arteta blamed individual mistakes for the team’s 3-2 loss to Manchester United.
When François Zubimendi’s mishandled back pass gave Bryan Mbeumo an equaliser, Arsenal was ahead 1-0. In the second half, United stunned the leaders with spectacular long-range goals from Matheus Cunha and Patrick Dorgu.
“The first half an hour we’re very dominant,” Arteta said, “playing the areas that we wanted, scored a goal, had two fantastic chances to score another one. And after that, we gave them the goal.”
Zubimendi’s error wasn’t the only one made by Arsenal, possibly as a result of the team’s anxiousness being heightened by the previous Premier League games’ goalless draws.
“The first error leads to the second one,” Arteta said. “There were three or four, which is very unusual today – but they are part of football and today we got punished. In the end, we have to show the mental strength we have on matchdays.”
Arteta said: “With the changes, we managed to shift the energy, scored the second goal, and you could feel that everything changed and the game was there to go and win it. In the next action, Noni [Madueke] is one v one in the six-yard box. We don’t get anything out of that. It goes to a goal-kick … one pass, win the duel, and Cunha puts it in the perfect angle to lose all the momentum, all the good energy that we were building up and to go and win the game for them.”
The Arsenal manager also refused to be critical of fans who gave the home side a smattering of boos at half-time. “We have to do more, and when we do that we can rest in peace.”