Mikel Arteta rued his Arsenal side's lack of effective game management but denied his team are bottling their chance at a first Premier League title in nearly 20 years after their 2-2 slip up at the London Stadium against struggling West Ham United.
When asked at the post-match presser if the pressure of the title race had affected his young side, Arteta was keen to dismiss such a notion. "I would say yes if I saw a team playing from the beginning like *tenses and holds his breath*. When I see a team playing with that flow, that’s not. At 2-0 certainly it’s not the pressure, it’s that we misunderstood what the game needed in that moment."
The Gunners had led 2-0 inside the opening 10 minutes as goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard put the league leaders in a commanding position in East London, before Lucas Paqueta was awarded a hotly-contested penalty which Said Benrahma made no mistake in converting, sending Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way to slot it into the bottom corner.
