Mikel Arteta addressed the media after Arsenal’s score draw with Aston Villa (Image: Sky Sports)
insists cannot be title contenders if they defend like they did against .
The Gunners were 2-0 up and cruising until just before the hour mark, when Youri Tielemans and scored twice in eight minutes to drag Villa level. Mikel Merino was beaten in the box by Tielemans for the first goal and went to sleep for Watkins’ equaliser.
Arteta was initially vague in his post-match assessment, as he admitted there is ‘something missing’ from his side. But he admitted that on Saturday, that missing thing was competent defending for both of Villa’s goals.
“In attack, in defence, the level we are playing is so, so, so high,” Arteta told . “We have played some big, big teams and we were so good. But there is something missing.
“That line is so thin and we have to find it. Today we conceded goals, that can’t be part of our game if we want to be up there. Today it was clear [what was missing]. We cannot concede those two goals after everything we did.
“We had discipline, commitment, resilience, quality. That line is so thin, against them especially. We have been punished before with that and we cannot do it.”
Thomas Partey was partly to blame for Aston Villa’s equalising goal (Image: Getty)
Falling further behind , who scored twice in stoppage time to beat Brentford earlier in the day, will be a bitter pill for Arteta to swallow. are now six points behind the Reds, who have a game in hand.
Gabriel Martinelli and netted to put the north Londoners in control against Villa. And nearly salvaged all three points late on, but Havertz was penalised for a handball after deflecting Mikel Merino’s effort into the net, before Merino saw a powerful strike saved onto the woodwork.
Although Arteta could not hide his frustration at two lapses in concentration at the back, he still rallied his troops with words of encouragement ahead of a vital two-and-a-half-week period which will include six games of , Carabao Cup and Champions League action.
“I’m so proud of the way we played, how dominant, how fluid we were and how much we put into it,” he continued. “We played three games in six days. I’m so proud of them, but at the same time so disappointed. We deserve more. We didn’t get it, and we are sad because of that.”