Mikel Arteta has bemoaned Arsenal’s unacceptable “standards” shown against Chelsea, calling on his players to step up and “show their teeth” as he prayed that their “nightmare” injury problems finally begin to ease.
The Gunners were held to an entertaining 1-1 draw by their London rivals at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, with Gabriel Martinelli’s opening effort on the hour mark swiftly cancelled out by Pedro Neto’s first Premier League goal for Chelsea before a last-gasp chance for Leandro Trossard to win the game went begging.
It was the latest frustrating performance in a worrying downturn for Arsenal, who have won only one of their last five matches across all competitions and already appear to face an uphill battle in the title race as they sit down in fourth place and nine points adrift of leaders Liverpool.
And while Arteta was pleased with the fight displayed by his team against Chelsea, he insisted that Arsenal’s defending for Neto’s equaliser fell well below the level that he expects.
“I think we dominated them,” the Gunners boss told Sky Sports. “We were the better team in many phases and situations in the game and after going ahead, very disappointed in the way we conceded. It was so poor. It is not our standards and we don't accept.
“Really proud, but at the end we are here to get the three points and we didn't. It is a second phase set-piece and we were disorganised. We don't reorganise quick enough and you can't allow the pass that way.
“You need the quality of Neto to do it but our standards were not good enough. They are all disappointed as a team. I'm very proud of the team with how they reacted. We wanted the three points and we didn't get them.”
Arsenal have been dogged by injuries during a difficult start to the new campaign, with their ongoing fitness issues only getting worse against Chelsea as both Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice limped off at Stamford Bridge - making them huge doubts for England’s concluding Nations League double-header against Greece and the Republic of Ireland this week.
Arteta admitted that the constant fitness woes had created a nightmare situation as his problems continued to mount, with the Spaniard left “praying” that he can have a fit squad to choose from when Arsenal return to action after the latest international break with a gruelling schedule across all competitions in the run-up to Christmas, beginning with the visit of Nottingham Forest in the top-flight on November 23.
“You could see everything was flowing but again it is about winning,” he said. “We have a clear vision how we can evolve the team. What we find out is that we have to change something big because we have problem after problem.
“My biggest fear is physically to get players at their best for 90 minutes. With that I'm fully confident we will have a good season.
“There's nothing that we can do about that. What I'm praying is that after the international break we have the team fully physically equipped. That they are available and that they are fit, because it's been a nightmare for eight weeks.
“Doubt after doubt, issue after issue, not only with the ones that are not able to play, but with the ones who are able to play only for certain moments and not able to play.”
Arteta demanded a return to consistency for Arsenal as he looked for leaders to step up during some difficult moments, insisting they were no longer at “Disneyland”.
“So I'm just asking that, because the desire the team has and how much we want it there's no question. It's going to come,” he said. “We just need that on our side to be more consistent.
“When it gets nasty, show your teeth and show how much you want it. When it's Disneyland it's very easy. Everybody's next to you, telling you how beautiful you are.
“When it gets dark and difficult and everybody's questioning it, that's when I want to see people. I'm looking around.”
