London: Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has apologised to the fans after their 0-3 defeat against Liverpool in the English Premier League at the Emirates Stadium. Diego Jota came on a substitute and scored a brace to put Liverpool back in the race for the top four in the league.
“We completely deserved to lose the game. They were better in every department and deserved to win the game with the margin they had, or even more. I accept responsibility for the way we played today,” the former player said.
“Liverpool completely deserved to win the game, probably by a bigger margin. We were extremely poor. We apologise. They made the right decisions, we didn’t. It is my fault. I have to set the team up to perform in a different way and that is it.
“Congratulations to Liverpool because they were exceptional today. That showed the difference between the two teams – that when they play at that level, the margin is incredibly high.
“I don’t have to use any excuses – that we don’t have five or six players – the standards are much higher at this football club and I have to get them to perform at that level. It was technical as well. We gave every ball away and could not put three passes together. The basics weren’t there today. If you do that against this kind of opponent, you get punished like we have.
“At the moment I am in shock. I didn’t expect that because of the way the team trained. It is a challenge. A challenge brings an opportunity. If you have courage and you represent a club like this, you have to stand up and take it,” he added.
Arsenal have managed to manage only one victory from their last 12 Premier League matches against Liverpool. This was also Arteta’s 50th Premier League fixture in charge of Arsenal. With the likes of David Luiz, Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe missing, Arteta admitted his side got what they deserved.
