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Arteta reacts to Saka disallowed goal as Arsenal boss sets objective

Mikel Arteta saw his Arsenal side drop points in the Premier League title race with a 1-1 draw against Fulham.

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Mikel Arteta admitted he was “gutted” after Arsenal failed to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to four points.

The Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw at Fulham on Sunday after William Saliba cancelled out Raul Jimenez’s opener.

The result means Arsenal moved to within six points of Premier League leaders Liverpool, but Arne Slot’s side now have a game in hand after their Merseyside derby clash against Everton on Saturday was called off due to the impact of Storm Darragh.

“We really wanted it,” said Arteta. “We have good momentum and it was a really crucial moment for us to go for it.

“We certainly did. We certainly tried and we were so close to doing it. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to achieve it.

“Gutted that we didn’t win it, because I think we deserved to win from the beginning to the end. We did almost everything that we had to do to win it.

“But this is the quality of the opposition, with one chance they score a goal. And then the margins of the league as well. For millimetres we could have been sitting here with three points after a really strong and dominant performance against a really good team.”

Denied: Arsenal thought they had won it late on against Fulham.

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Arsenal thought they had won it at the death through Bukayo Saka, but his header was ruled out for offside.

VAR spotted that winger Gabriel Martinelli, who supplied the cross, was just offside in the build-up.

“We cannot feel sorry for ourselves,” said Arteta. “We have to stand up for ourselves. We had a really good performance against a really good side.

“Normally you don’t see these kind of games here. Now we have to continue to improve and look at what we can do better so that the opposition have zero chances to win the game. That’s the objective.”