“We were incredibly uneven on the ball, and that is unacceptable,” Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said after Arsenal’s top-four campaign suffered a setback. We played poorly, particularly in the opening half. I sincerely apologize to our fans.” Kieran Tierney may miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury.
Mikel Arteta has apologized to Arsenal fans for his team’s “unacceptable” performance against Crystal Palace.
The Gunners’ top-four ambitions were dashed at Palace, leaving Tottenham in fourth place after the Premier League weekend.
The Gunners may have a game in hand on their north London rivals, but this was an out-of-character display from Arteta’s side, as goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew in the first half, and a penalty from Wilfried Zaha in the second, gave stunning Palace the points.
Arteta, who was missing left-back Kierney due to a knee injury sustained while playing in both of Scotland’s recent friendlies, criticized his team’s performance, saying they did not compete physically with Palace.
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“Congratulations to Palace for the game they played,” he told Sky Sports, “but we made it impossible for ourselves with the way we performed.”
“You have to be physically strong and run in order to win the right to play.” We were quite inconsistent on the field, which is unacceptable.
“We were terrible, particularly in the opening half.” I apologize to all of our supporters. We didn’t have the presence or the calmness today to dominate the situation, which is what irritates me the most. Some days you don’t show up, and you’re always late. They got on top of it and created a pleasant mood, and we were unable to leave.
