Mikel Arteta was forced to admit that Arsenal 'struggled' after his side threw away their lead to draw 1-1 with Southampton - but he insists the Gunners learned a valuable lesson.
Arsenal took an early lead at St Mary's when Granit Xhaka converted Ben White's cross. Midway through the second half, though, Stuart Armstrong finished a slick Saints move to equalise. The Gunners looked visibly sapped of energy as they huffed and puffed for their ninth successive victory, which would've put them four points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Arsenal boss Arteta couldn't hide his frustration post-match, with the Gunners having slumped to their first top-flight draw of the season. "We had three or four good opportunities and should have scored more. We needed two or three goals, but only scored one," the Arsenal manager told BBC Sport.
"It's disappointing. We created enough chances but couldn't put the ball away. It's a lesson because we wanted to win again. They put us under more pressure through direct play in the second half, and we were struggling."
Arteta added to Sky Sports : "It should have been a different outcome. Credit to Southampton, they did very well. We started to concede a lot of long throws. We created the two biggest chances in the second half but it wasn't enough to win the game. We just didn't put the ball in the back of the net. We had enough chances to get the win. It's very disappointing."
One bright spot for the Spaniard - who evidently feels that his team need to do better when dealing with directly play - was another goal for Swiss midfielder Xhaka, who now has five for the campaign in all competitions.
His right-footed finish beat Southampton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu on 11 minutes, and for much of the game he looked to have secured the Gunners another three points. "Really efficient, really consistent and really impressive," Arteta said of Xhaka. "It's the way he wants to continue to do it."
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Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl was pleased with his side's performance, having come from a goal down to make it four points from two difficult fixtures.
"We saw a very intense game with two different halves," Hasenhuttl explained, having led his side to a vital 1-0 win at Bournemouth on Wednesday. "We had during the week issues with injuries and this made it difficult to prepare. We had a plan B in the pocket and it worked better."
The Saints boss went on to say: "I'm very proud because I saw a club fighting for this club and for these points. This was a very important statement. Coming back against the team top of the league. Keep coming back, be brave and if you need to press them, do it."
