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Mikel Arteta names four Arsenal problems in home defeat, ‘concerned’ by performance

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta admits he is ‘concerned’ by Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton and has named four aspects of their performance which were sub-par.

Following Manchester United’s surprise loss at the hands of Everton, Arsenal had the chance to consolidate their top-four hopes at the Emirates. But they suffered a second defeat this week due to goals from Leandro Trossard and Enock Mwepu.

The Gunners did find the net late on through attacking midfielder Martin Odegaard, but they didn’t have enough time to build on that and get a second.

Trossard finished past Aaron Ramsdale in the 28th minute after some great work from man of the match Mwepu down the right flank.

Arsenal had the ball in the back of the net just before the interval, although Gabriel Martinelli’s goal was ruled out due to offside.

Mwepu doubled Brighton’s in the second half by beating Ramsdale with a fantastic first-time shot.

Arsenal emerge but Brighton see out victory

However, Arsenal burst into life in the latter stages and hit the crossbar twice before Odegaard scored, via a deflection.

Brighton survived the late onslaught though and ended their run of seven matches without a win.

During a post-match interview with BBC Sport, Arteta said: “It has been a tough week, especially today because we wanted a reaction [to the Palace defeat].

“It came in the second half, which is too late; we have to have the courage and personality to play much better and raise the level in the first half.”

Leandro Trossard and Cedric Soares

Arteta then listed four issues with his team’s performance. “We made it really difficult for ourselves. We were sloppy, we had no purpose to attack, we were really imprecise and we didn’t want to play forward.

“We’ve shown for many weeks how well we can play; it has been a difficult week and we’ve lost some big players, but if you get what you want, not everything is going to be with a blue sky. This is our team in the good moments and especially the defeats.

“There are many games to play but we have to be concerned about that performance, especially first half.”

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