Mikel Arteta points the blame after Arsenal boss called out following West Ham defeat
Mikel Arteta's Arsenal were beaten at home by West Ham for the second straight Premier League match as the Gunners' hopes of winning the title were dealt as massive blow
by Tom Victor · The MirrorArsenal manager Mikel Arteta insisted he needed to shoulder the blame after the title-challengers fell flat at home to West Ham on Saturday.
Arteta's team were unbeaten in the league since November when they welcomed Graham Potter's side to North London, but managed just two shots on target in a 1-0 reverse. Jarrod Bowen was the match-winner for the visitors, with Arsenal playing the final 20 minutes with 10 men after Myles Lewis-Skelly's red card.
The defeat kept the Gunners eight points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, who play Manchester City on Sunday. West Ham, meanwhile, moved 13 points clear of the relegation zone after winning for just the second time under Potter.
Arsenal are beginning to feel the effects of their injury crisis, with Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli all missing from their front-line. Arteta wasn't ready to make excuses, though, pointing the blame firmly at himself.
"We allowed [West Ham] to run with simple giveaways," Arteta said after his team's third league reverse of the season. "They are a dangerous team. They have the quality to deliver the moment. After that is becomes a difficult game. Then we get the red card and it's a big mountain to climb. We try to react but we didn't have specific quality moments.
"The moment we got into the areas, then you have to unlock something, and we didn't. That is down to me as well. That is my responsibility and I don't want to take that all to the players.
"Today we weren't at the level required to be convincingly better than the opponent. It is painful. We need to feel the pain today, we deserve it."
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Arteta opted to use Mikel Merino as his starting striker after the midfielder came off the bench to deliver victory at Leicester last time out. The Spanish international couldn't repeat the trick, though, and former Gunners star Paul Merson suggested the struggles rest with the manager.
"It's a hard position to play, centre forward, there aren't a lot of them around," Merson told Sky Sports. "To just throw people up there and expect them to do the magic, for me, is mind-blowing."
Arsenal won't have long to recover from their defeat, with a trip to Nottingham Forest coming up on Wednesday. West Ham are back in action 24 hours later, hosting a Leicester side who have lost their last three league games on the spin without scoring.
"It has been a difficult season but it is one of those wins we will never forget about," Hammers star Mhammed Kudus said after the victory at the Emirates Stadium. "We were focused and I'm glad we got the three points. We played a top team and we knew they would attack a lot. Everyone did their duties."
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