Mikel Arteta admits his side were poor against the Magpies and that Newcastle United deserves the whole three points.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admits they performed poorly and that Newcastle United deserve the win.
The Gunners submitted to the host losing 2-0 to the Magpies in the Premier League which jeopardize their chance of getting into fourth.
Newcastle dominated the game against the Gunners and Arteta stated that the Magpies deserved the three points.
Speaking after the match last night Arteta said: “We knew [what was at stake], but we didn’t cope with it. We didn’t compete, we never got into the game, we put ourselves in trouble time after time, we lost every duel. Every aspect of the game we were second best and Newcastle totally deserved to win the match, probably by a bigger margin as well.”
The whole drama will now move down to the last day of the Premier League as Arsenal will take on Everton.
The Gunners will be hoping Tottenham that needs a point to seal the Champions League dream against relegated side Norwich will lose the whole three points.
“Well now we have to swallow everything, digest it and tomorrow is another day. We will still have five days to prepare that match. We know what we have to do. There’s not a lot of words I think that are needed after the performance tonight.
“We need to win and we need a defeat from them, and we know that in football, that’s always possible, and if anything happens, you have to be there in order to do that. Today, you have to put your head down, swallow all the disappointment that we all feel, hopefully, and tomorrow start again.”
Arteta further claims that the players have done the best they can do and he will always protect them in this kind of situation.
He added that he has not be let down by any of the players and they created a huge expectation this season.
“I am the maximum responsible (person) all the time. If somebody has created an expectation this year that no one in this room probably would talk about at the start of this season, it’s those players that are there. I will always defend them. But tonight that’s a really, really difficult thing to do. “
