“We cannot accept it” – Frustrated Arteta bemoans poor defending in Chelsea draw

Mikel Arteta expressed frustration with Arsenal’s defending which led to Chelsea’s leveller during Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, Soccernet.football reports.

The Gunners took the lead through Gabriel Martinelli after the Brazilian beat Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez from a tight angle on the hour mark. However, the Blues responded ten minutes later as Pedro Neto punished Arsenal’s lackluster defending with a strike from range.

The North Londoners missed a big chance late on, when Leandro Trossard sent William Saliba’s cross wide, leaving Arteta visibly frustrated on the sidelines. Although Chelsea looked the more threatening team, Arteta, who believed Arsenal dominated the game, was disappointed with his defense on Neto’s goal.

 “The disappointment of not getting three points is bigger [than being satisfied] and it will probably be bigger after watching it back,” Arteta told Sky Sports.

“I think we dominated them, 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 [at] our standards and we don’t accept [it].

“It is a second phase set piece and we were disorganised. We didn’t reorganise quickly 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.”

Arteta found some encouragement in Martin Odegaard’s return to fitness, as the midfielder provided an assist for Martinelli in his first appearance since September.

“[He] has been out for six weeks and barely trained with the team,” Arteta said of Odegaard, who played the entire match.

“To be able to play at this level in the Premier League tells you how much he looks after himself and the leadership and character he has. Everything flows better with players like this. We clicked much better. You could see everything was flowing but again it is about winning.

“What we have found is that every day we have had to change something big, because we’ve had problem after problem.

“Normally the team goes down but this team has unbelievable energy and spirit to play.”                           

The draw left Arsenal in 4th, level on points (19) with London rivals Chelsea in 3rd and nine points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool heading into the November international break.