“We’re mo longer in title race and I’m resigning next week if they failed to add that guy to our attack”: Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta says Arsenal are no longer in the title race because of ONE position, threatened to leave should the club failed to sign the particular striker he openly named
Mikel Arteta hinted that injuries to his Arsenal squad are close to ending their Premier League challenge following a crushing 2-2 draw against Aston Villa at the Emirates. And the Spaniard says his side simply do not have the squad to compete with Liverpool.
Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz fired the home side into a 2-0 lead but Villa fought back through goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins in eight second-half minutes to deal a potentially devastating blow to Arsenal’s title tilt.
Arsenal have been rocked by injuries to a host of players this season, with Bukayo Saka out until at least March following hamstring surgery, while Gabriel Jesus is sidelined for the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Saka’s teenage understudy Ethan Nwaneri is also absent, while Arteta was dealt another injury blow on the eve of Saturday’s fixture with William Saliba unable to take part. The defender joins Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu in the treatment room.
Arteta’s substitutes consisted of three academy players, three left-backs, Jorginho and Raheem Sterling.
“The danger was that I knew half the team could go downhill because we were physically drained.”
Asked again if Arsenal will have to move in the transfer market this month, the Spaniard replied: “When you look at the performances, I don’t know how many teams are playing at this level in the league. But when you look at the bench, you would probably say we are very short.”
On Saliba, Arteta added: “Tomorrow we’ll have more information, but am I worried? Yes, for sure, especially with the numbers that we have in the squad, and looking at our bench.”
Havertz looked to have won the game in the 88th minute only to see his strike disallowed by VAR after he was adjudged to have turned in Mikel Merino’s shot with his arm.
“I have not seen it enough, and there was one angle where it looks like the decision was made,” said Arteta.
“I am incredibly proud of this team. It was an immense performance. But I am very disappointed because defending the way we did for the second goal cannot be a part of our game if we want to be at the highest level in this country. It was nowhere near the standard required.”
Villa effectively ended Arsenal’s challenge with a 2-0 win here in April and Unai Emery came back to haunt his old employers again.
“We showed resilience and how we reacted when going two goals downs was fantastic,” said Emery. “We never gave up.”
“Arsenal are contenders with Liverpool so today was a very good test, but we did a fantastic job. At the end, I was thinking maybe we can get another goal to win and this is the mentality I want.”
