Mike Arteta has taken responsibility for his Arsenal team throwing away its chance of Premier League silverware, admitting his regret after defeat against Brighton dashed their hopes.
Goals from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinan gave the Seagulls all three points at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. While Arsenal still have a mathematical chance of pipping Manchester City to top spot, Pep Guardiola's men can seal the title with just one win from their final three matches.
It was Arsenal's first home defeat since title rivals City beat them back in February, and only their fifth league reverse of any kind all season. However, in the light of the defeat, Arteta couldn't hide his disappointment.
"You cannot do what we did in the second half," Arteta said after Roberto De Zerbi's team added to Enciso's goal late on. "If the team is capable of doing that when it comes to the biggest stage there are a lot of things we have to think about and analyse.
"I hate the feeling of letting people down when they're really expecting something. That's the biggest regret I have today."
Arsenal won their last two games, against Chelsea and Newcastle, to keep their slim title hopes alive. However, after City's win at Everton earlier in the afternoon, Arteta's men failed to deliver the response they needed.
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Arsenal were already without injured centre-back William Saliba for Sunday's game, while Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu were also missing to make for a makeshift back four. Things got worse when joint-top scorer Gabriel Martinelli was forced off injured in the first half.
Stand-in defender Jakub Kiwior received some criticism from commentators after staying down injured in the lead-up to Enciso's opener for the visitors. However, even he admitted "heads dropped" after a mistake from Leandro Trossard allowed Undav to double Brighton's advantage just a few minutes from full-time.
Games against Nottingham Forest and Wolves will allow Arteta's team to go out on a high. However, their manager knows difficult afternoons such as the one against Brighton can't be repeated too regularly if the Gunners are to challenge for top spot next term.
Despite the setback, though, Arsenal have already improved by 12 points on last season's tally. That gap can grow with wins in the last two games, while Arteta's men are already guaranteed a top-two finish after coming fifth last year.
"Mathematically, it's still possible, but today it's impossible to think about it," the manager told Sky Sports after being asked about the title. "We need to digest the result and the performance in the second half, understand why and have a different reaction."
