Arsenal turned in a poor, all-too-familiar display as Bournemouth claimed a 2-1 win at the Emirates, handing fresh encouragement to Manchester City in the title race.
The Gunners had the chance to move 12 points clear, if only for a few hours, but failed to take it. Viktor Gyokeres’ penalty cancelled out Junior Kroupi’s early opener, before Alex Scott struck to settle the game and leave the door ajar for Pep Guardiola’s side ahead of next weekend’s showdown at the Etihad.
Here’s what the managers, players, pundits and stattos made of the action…
Mikel Arteta on a mess of a performance…
It’s extremely disappointing. It’s a big punch in the face; it’s about how we react now. Credit to them for what they did; they haven’t lost in 11 games for a reason. They got a lot of things right. When we had situations in the first half, when we regained the ball, we were far from efficient. The first opportunity they had to attack the box, it was a deflection, a really bad defensive action, and it cost us a goal. That’s something we have to deal with emotionally. We tried to recover from there, tried to push them, we scored from the penalty and you expect a different game. But we did a lot of strange things today.
Source: TNT Sports
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Andoni Iraola on winning after a 22-day break…
I was a little worried, you lose a bit of the intensity of the competition, you really don’t know how you’re going to start, but we started really well. Physically, I think we finished strong. We were coming from a lot of draws and today we could finish the job. I think we’ve shown great personality to play in a big game, big stadium, I think we’ve been at the level of the game. I’m very happy for the players.
Source: TNT Sports
Bournemouth matchwinner Alex Scott on a long-awaited win…
It felt really good! The team they are, obviously top of the league, they’re having an unbelievable season, we want to one-up that. We’ve been unbeaten for a while now, not as many wins, so to come here and get the three points is a big statement. It’s massive. Finally turned it into a win against the best team in the league. Obviously, really happy with that. Our fans pushed us on as did there’s, we want to kick on now and finish as high as possible.
Source: premierleague.com
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Viktor Gyokeres on a bad day…
We could have played much better in both halves, really. We didn’t control the game well enough, and they’re a good side. When they get some chances, they will make it difficult for us. And then, we had to do better there and, of course, attacking-wise, create more. We had a good feeling before the game. And then during the game, we were ready for everything. But they made it difficult for us, and we made it difficult for ourselves during the game. That’s why the end result is what it is. It always hurts when you lose. We have a lot of games still to play and we know how good we are. And we just have to show it on the pitch and get back in that rhythm that we can play in and believe in ourselves.
Source: TNT Sports
Leandro Trossard on an opportunity missed…
Yeah, that’s for sure. Everyone is disappointed with the result. We wanted to win this game, and it was a big game for us, but we cannot change that anymore. We can only look towards the next games, and we need to take this in and get better next week. We know we have some injuries, but we don’t need to make any excuses. Today wasn’t at the level where we’re supposed to be. We need to learn from this. We have a big game again in the midweek, so we have to turn this around quickly and get our heads in the same way. We have to believe, we’re still in a very good position. We’re still top of the league. We have a big game on Wednesday. I understand the disappointment [of the fans]. We are disappointed as well. We want to win every game and obviously we can only win games with their support.
Source: beIN SPORTS
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Arteta’s message to the fans…
Apologise, take it in the chin, and that’s it. What I’m trying to do is give our best to the club, give the best possibility to our players. And I know if the atmosphere, the fans, the support, the energy in the stadium is the best in the world, we have a much better chance. I don’t think that there is any other possibility to perform better than when you have that kind of support. But then we have to respond, and we had moments in the first half where we did it, and there were other moments that we weren’t at our level. We have to apologise to them [the fans] and improve, for sure.
Source: Post-game press conference
Martin Keown on how Arsenal need to react…
Now people have to stand up. Personalities have to come forward. Leaders need to emerge. It’s still in your hands because you play Manchester City in the Premier League. You do have a Champions League game midweek though, and you need to make sure that the wheels do not come off.
Source: TNT Sports
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Aaron Ramsey on Bournemouth deserving much credit…
It was an opportunity missed today to take the initiative. Full credit to Bournemouth, they played with a lot of intensity, controlled the game in large periods, and caused Arsenal a few problems. There’s still a long way to go, there are still a few things to happen, but Arsenal can go to Man City next week, and the focus needs to be on them. We highlighted it before the game. Bournemouth are on the longest unbeaten run in Europe at the moment. To do that in the Premier League today, they’re a really good team with a great manager who has installed some great habits. Quite a young team as well, full credit goes to them. It was a great goal [from Alex Scott].
Source: premierleague.com
Paul Merson on the incoming reaction…
Keep away from the papers and social media because everyone will be saying here comes the melt! A terrible, terrible result. Bad performance, no energy, no real ‘let’s take the game to Bournemouth’. It’s a sloppy result.
Source: Sky Sports
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Arteta on focus turning back to the Champions League…
We have the opportunity to go into the semi-finals of the Champions League, and that’s what we have to focus on right now. But again, we need to go through that pain, and use it in the right way. If you want to win those kinds of competitions, you have to go through difficult moments and what we need for sure is all the players available and fit, in the best condition. We need to get that nailed as quickly as possible, because that’s going to be very helpful. Go through the pain today, and tomorrow is a new day.
Source: Arsenal.com
Arteta on wrestling back momentum…
I just want to focus on the things that we can control, dominate, and we have done. It’s not like we have to do a lot of new things that we haven’t done, no, let’s keep doing a lot of it. Or almost all the things that we’ve done for nine months, because that’s what has taken us all the way there. And on Wednesday, I saw a lot of them. And today, yeah, we’ve gone back, so we need to learn, we need to be very critical to ourselves, and then pick ourselves up, because on Wednesday we have a big one coming up.
Source: Post-game press conference