Arsenal ‘deserve the pain’ as Premier League title hopes fade | OneFootball

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says his side “need to feel the pain” after their Premier League title ambitions were dealt a massive blow on Saturday.

West Ham United pulled off a shock win at the Emirates Stadium after Jarrod Bowen scored the 50th top-flight goal of his career on the stroke of halftime.

The Hammers, whose task was made easier when Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity in the 73rd minute, held on for their first win at the ground since December 2023.

Arsenal ‘deserve the pain’ as Premier League title hopes fade

After the final whistle Arteta lamented Arsenal‘s lack of control in their first league defeat of the calendar year.

“We never got a grip of the game because we’re so inconsistent with the ball,” he said. “We give so many balls away.

“We never get enough positive sequence of actions, one after the other, that could generate threat and momentum in the areas we want to conquer. That allowed the game to be the flick of a coin.

“We allowed them to run with simple giveaways. They are a dangerous team. They have the quality to deliver the moment. After that is becomes a difficult game.

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“Then we get the red card and it’s a big mountain to climb. We try to react but we didn’t have specific quality moments.”

Arteta went on to admit that the team deserve to feel the pain of defeat after putting in a subpar performance.

“The moment we got into the areas, then you have to unlock something, and we didn’t. That is down to me as well,” the Basque native said.

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“That is my responsibility and I don’t want to take that all to the players. Today we weren’t at the level required to be convincingly better than the opponent.

“It is painful. We need to feel the pain today, we deserve it.”

The Gunners remain eight points off Premier League leaders Liverpool having failed to capitalise on the Reds dropping points away to Aston Villa in midweek.

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