The manager of Arsenal football club, Mikel Arteta has apologized for the 0-3 defeat the club suffered at the hands of Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, April 3, 2021.
Arsenal went into the game looking like a team that would give Liverpool a good fight but the club only managed to prevent Liverpool from scoring in the first half. Despite that, Liverpool dominated the first 45 minutes while Arsenal spent the whole period chasing after the ball.
The second half of the game resumed like how the first half started. Liverpool continued to ask questions until in the 64th minute when Portuguese football star, Diogo Jota gave Liverpool the lead.
Despite the goal, Arsenal failed to increase the temple of their game but continued to chase after the ball until Mohamed Salah made it 2-0 for the visitors. When Mikel Arteta and his boys thought they have seen enough, Jota scored the third goal of the match to earn Liverpool a 3-0 away victory.
Throughout the 90 minutes of the game, Arsenal managed to make only 3 shots, 2 of which were on target. While Liverpool made 16 shots and 7 shots were on target. The visitors enjoyed 65 percent of the possession and Arsenal managed just 35 percent.
After the game, Mikel Arteta accepted responsibility for the performance of Arsenal and said Liverpool deserved to win the match even with a wider margin.
The Spanish tactician went on to congratulate Liverpool, describing the visitors’ performance at the Emirates Stadium as exceptional and described Arsenal’s performance as extremely poor.
“We completely deserved to lose the game”, Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports. “They were better in every department and deserved to win the game with the margin they had, or even more. I accept responsibility for the way we played today.
“Liverpool completely deserved to win the game, probably by a bigger margin. We were extremely poor. We apologize.
“They made the right decisions, we didn’t. It is my fault. I have to set the team up to perform differently and that is it. Congratulations to Liverpool because they were exceptional today. That showed the difference between the two teams – that when they play at that level, the margin is incredibly high.
“I don’t have to use any excuses – that we don’t have five or six players – the standards are much higher at this football club and I have to get them to perform at that level. It was technical as well.
“I don’t have to use any excuses – that we don’t have five or six players – the standards are much higher at this football club and I have to get them to perform at that level. It was technical as well.
“We gave every ball away and could not put three passes together. The basics weren’t there today. If you do that against this kind of opponent, you get punished as we have.
“At the moment I am in shock. I didn’t expect that because of the way the team trained. It is a challenge. A challenge brings an opportunity. If you have courage and you represent a club like this, you have to stand up and take it.”
💬 "Firstly I apologise to our supporters for the display… For the club we represent, it's not acceptable."
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 3, 2021
The boss reflects on #ARSLIV 🎙 pic.twitter.com/p4HsrdPoyP
As it stands, the defeat has left Arsenal in the 9th spot on the league table with 42 points in 30 games. While the victory took Liverpool closer to the top four. They are currently occupying the 5th spot on the league table with 49 points in 30 games, 2 points away from 4th placed Chelsea.
Due to the 2-0 victory Manchester City recorded over Leicester City on Saturday, it is now mathematically impossible for Liverpool to retain the Premier League title they won last season. This means that only second-placed Manchester United and third-placed Leicester City still have the mathematical chance of overtaking Manchester City.
