Viktor Gyokeres gave his thoughts on a 2-1 defeat for Arsenal against Bournemouth on Friday.
The Gunners had the chance to move 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League with a win, but they ended up suffering their third successive defeat in domestic football, having been beaten 2-1 by Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-final and 2-0 by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final.
Eli Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott scored the goals for a side that are now undefeated in their last 12 Premier League fixtures. It is the longest unbeaten run for the Cherries in their top-flight history, and a credit to the work of Andoni Iraola after so many significant sales since the summer.
That said, the hosts have to look inwards, and Gyokeres admitted that his team were not at the level required.
'We didn't create enough'
The Swede slotted away a penalty in the first half that marked his 11th goal in the new year, and only Joao Pedro has produced more goals across all competitions during 2026 among Premier League forwards. However, his individual form is not enough to stop the slide for the Gunners at the moment.
Now, attention turns to the second leg against Sporting, and Arsenal have to recompose themselves.
"We didn't come up to our level throughout the game. I think when we scored to make it 1-1, we felt good as a team."
"We had some dangerous chances before that and we wanted to take control of the second half, maybe didn't create enough, in attack."
"They didn't create so much either, but they were clinical and they scored on the chances they got. That's why it wasn't a good result today."
"We have a lot of important games to come, and we need to embrace it and to enjoy playing those games. Like I said, it's a great game to have in a few days, so we just need to recover now, leave this behind and make a very good performance on Wednesday."