Mikel Arteta gave his post-match reaction after Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat against Sean Dyche’s Everton on Saturday.
The Gunners had the chance to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to 8 points, with Man City having to face their bogey team in Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
However, James Tarkowski had other plans, firing in a bullet header to ensure the visitors leave Goodison Park with a surprise loss.
Mikel Arteta gives post-match reaction to Everton-Arsenal clash
After the contest, Mikel Arteta was quizzed about his reaction after Arsenal lost to Everton.
“We had loads of the ball but we lacked that purpose and quality in the final third, we generated many chances. But then we conceded and they slowed the game down and we struggled”, Mikel Arteta opened in his post-match reaction after Arsenal lost to Everton, as quoted by BBC Sport.
“They do this to every team that is their strength with the height, the physicality is their strength, if you want to control the game against them you have to control this. We did not do that today.”
“We needed more composure and to control emotionally the game better. We gave away so many unnecessary free-kicks and that’s what they want”, Arteta said in his reaction on what went wrong for Arsenal against Everton.
He continued, “Today I love them much better than the week before or a month ago. It is easy to be next to someone when they are winning well. I am still so proud of all of these players, they deserve it. This is not going to be a rose pathway.”
“This is going to be tricky and we will have to dig in and play much better than we did today”, the Spaniard concluded.
Ultimately, Mikel Arteta seemed typically measured in his post-match reaction, despite Everton taking home a narrow win at Goodison Park to kickstart the Sean Dyche era in style, who deserved due praise from Jamie O’Hara during the contest.
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