´I´m very, very angry´ – Arteta slams Arsenal after title hopes dented

Mikel Arteta was left “very, very angry” after Arsenal’s title hopes were dented following their defeat to West Ham.

Arsenal had the chance to close the gap to Liverpool to five points with a win over the Hammers but instead fell to a 1-0 defeat thanks to Jarrod Bowen’s first-half goal.

Their misery was then later compounded by a straight red card for Myles Lewis-Skelly, who made a lunging last-man challenge in the second half.

It ended a 15-match unbeaten streak in the Premier League for Arsenal, who struggled to create clear-cut chances despite having 20 shots in the match.

They only managed two efforts on target, the same as West Ham, and bettered their opponents’ expected goals (xG) with 1.22 to 1.07.

“Even though the [possession] that we had and 20 shots, I never felt that we were at the standard and the level that we needed,” Arteta said.

“First of all, to have more threat and then not to allow them to run because we lost a lot of balls that we allowed West Ham to run in very dangerous positions.

“We have to be [angry]. I hope we are very much because we didn’t hit the levels today, and I am very much responsible of that, so I am very, very angry.”

Liverpool could extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to 11 points if they beat Manchester City on Sunday and have a 91.7% chance of winning the title according to the Opta supercomputer.

Arsenal’s hopes of getting their hands on the trophy, meanwhile, have now dropped to 8.2%, with second place their most likely finishing position (83.2%).

Pushed on whether the title race was over if Liverpool beat City, Arteta added: “It’s not in our hands.

“For me, I’m really, really annoyed about the things that are in our hands, and we didn’t do as well as we possibly could and that’s the performance and the result today.”