Arteta admits that the loss to Fulham is the lowest point of Arsenal’s season, describing it as a “painful day”.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta expressed disappointment over his team’s lackluster 2-1 loss to Fulham on New Year’s Eve, labeling it as their weakest showing of the season. He cautioned that if they continue to repeat this type of performance, they will not be contenders for the title.

After being at the top of the table a few weeks before Christmas, Arsenal has lost 11 points in their last five games, causing them to drop to fourth place at the beginning of the new year.

Raúl Jiménez and Bobby De Cordova-Reid scored goals to lead Fulham to a comeback victory, their first in over a year, after Bukayo Saka’s initial goal. The win was well-deserved for the home team, who put on a dominant performance.

According to Arteta, today was filled with pain and sadness. He strongly believes that the events of today must not be repeated. If they are, their goals will never be achievable.

“Today had the potential to be a wonderful day to finish the year as the top team in the league. However, we need to reflect on our own actions and performance because it was undoubtedly the worst of the entire season.”

The way they lost was surprising. Despite having 77 touches in the opponent’s box and taking 30 shots, Arsenal was defeated 2-0 at home by West Ham on Thursday. However, at Craven Cottage, they were outperformed in every aspect.

Arteta stated that in the match against West Ham, we were unfortunate to lose despite deserving a victory. However, today’s game was a contrasting experience.

We were not sufficient. We lacked flow, direction, and intimidation.

“Our defense was not up to par. The opposing team had no trouble winning the first and second balls and had plenty of chances to sprint. We were never able to reach the necessary level. It is evident and straightforward that we did not deserve to win the game.”

Following a series of three consecutive losses in the league without scoring, Marco Silva praised Fulham’s recent win as one of their best this season. He stated, “In the past few months, we have deserved a result like this against a top team because we have come so close.”

It is the optimal way to end the year. It was crucial for us to end on a positive note. The ideal way is to compete against top-ranked teams at Craven Cottage, which is the perfect setting for us. We were the superior team on the field and earned the three points.

Source: theguardian.com