Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham on Sunday afternoon as they missed the chance to move within four points of Premier League leaders Liverpool.
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Mikel Arteta, manager of Arsenal, claps the away fans at Craven Cottage
Mikel Arteta, manager of Arsenal(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Mikel Arteta says his Arsenal squad "cannot cry" and dwell on their missed opportunity to close the gap on Liverpool in the Premier League title race. The Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham, with William Saliba's goal levelling Raul Jimenez's earlier strike before Bukayo Saka's late effort was disallowed for an offside in the build-up after VAR review.
Despite the setback, which saw Arsenal cut the lead over Liverpool to six points with Arne Slot's side having a game in hand, Arteta remained positive about his team's performance. "I am gutted that we didn’t win it because we deserved to win from the beginning to the end," Arteta reflected.
"We did almost everything that we had to do to win it, and, but for millimetres we could have been sitting here with three points after a really strong and dominant performance against a really good team." He added: "You cannot cry about it, and that’s the beauty of this league, too.
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"We cannot feel sorry for ourselves. We have to stand up for ourselves, and 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."
Since the international break, Arsenal have recorded three consecutive league wins, securing a solid 2-0 victory over Manchester United at the Emirates on Wednesday. However, Arteta's squad seemed to lack energy in the first half at Craven Cottage, with Saka taking the only shot on target for Arsenal in those initial 45 minutes.
After half-time, the Gunners looked rejuvenated, and Saliba's goal from a corner – marking the team's third successive corner-goal and the 23rd since last season commenced – suggested they might snatch the win. But Arsenal struggled to create enough clear chances, which led Arteta to speak out in defence of their record after two matches without an open-play goal.
"It’s a great thing that we can again score from a set-piece," he insisted. "It’s never enough if you don’t score three, four or five.
"If we want to improve we have to be better in every action that we do. If they play 11 direct balls, I want to win 11. If they play the high-press six times, I want to play six times. We want to manage the game 100 per cent."
Liverpool's final Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime was postponed due to Storm Darragh.