Arteta made his feelings clear after the match, insisting that Arsenal’s display fell below the standards required of a team with title ambitions. "It was a relief, but we have a very clear understanding that the margins should have been bigger," he said, acknowledging that Arsenal let Wolves back into a contest that should have been closed out long before stoppage time. He lamented a costly spell in which Arsenal lost control, saying: "We generated more chances in the second half, but after that we had a period of two or three minutes in deep, totally passive, with horrible defensive habits that are nowhere near the levels required."
Arteta also criticised the nature of Wolves’ equaliser, expressing frustration with how easily the visitors scored their only meaningful opportunity. "The first time they had an opportunity to score they did," he reflected, pointing out that the sequence should have been stopped well before Arokodare’s header hit the net. He reiterated, “We should have stopped the shots before, and that is on us,” underlining that structural and individual weaknesses persist.
When speaking to BBC Match of the Day, Arteta summed up the chaotic evening in blunt terms. "It was a rollercoaster," he said. "The longer the game went on, they had hope and we had to accelerate our game and take more risks. We did find a way and that's a very positive thing, if not we'd be very frustrated and rightly so, but there are things to improve obviously."