Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said they made the mistake of thinking they could maintain a two-goal lead in their 2-2 draw with West Ham in the Premier League.
Arsenal dropped two important points in the game against West Ham as the Gunners threw away a two-goal lead. It means Arsenal, who sit atop the Premier League, are now only four points clear of second-placed Manchester City, who have a game in hand.
Against West Ham, Arsenal took the lead in the seventh minute of the game, courtesy of Gabriel Jesus. The Gunners then doubled their lead in the 10th minute as Martin Odegaard made it 2-0 for Arsenal.
However, West Ham clawed their way back into the game, with Said Benrahma halving the deficit in the 33rd minute and Jarrod Bowen finding the equalizer in the 54th minute.
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Mikel Arteta: Arsenal gave West Ham hope and the Hammers took it
Speaking after the match, Mikel Arteta said Arsenal did not go for the third and fourth goals with the same purpose that saw them score the first two goals.
He said [via Football.London]: “Started extremely well again. Dominated the game, dominated the pitch, and scored two beautiful goals.
“After that, we made a huge mistake to stop playing with the same purpose to score the third and fourth one and just thinking we could play around them and maintain the result, and just looked too easy. At that moment we gave them hope. Credit to West Ham, they took it.
“They defended really well. They started to play extremely direct with long throws and corners. If you don’t defend the box the way you should with the two goals that we concede, then you have to do many things better than what we did.
“There is another moment where you could go 3-1 up after 50 minutes and probably the game is over. Two minutes after that you concede the equaliser. This is part of football. My worry is after 2-0 that we made that huge mistake and didn’t understand what the game required at the moment.”
Bukayo Saka had the chance to make it 3-1 in the 52nd minute but the England international missed a penalty, his effort wide off the target. West Ham scored the equalizer just two minutes later.
Meanwhile, Arsenal now have 74 points from 31 games in the Premier League so far this season. Manchester City, who sit second, have 70 points from 30 matches in the English top flight so far in the current campaign.
