Mikel Arteta admits that we paid the price for making poor decisions in the final third as lost 1-0 at Aston Villa.
Ollie Watkins scored the only goal inside two minutes after an unfortunate mix-up between Cedric and Gabriel, and they kept us at bay from that point.
Arteta felt Ezri Konsa should have seen red for a foul on Bukayo Saka in the first half and center referee Chris Kavanagh missed a clear pull on Alex Lacazette’s shirt by Emi Martinez as the duo tussled for a corner.
Despite all of these mistakes by the referee, the boss admits we were our own biggest enemies.
“I’m extremely disappointed to lose and the way we lost it,” he told BBC Sport.
“We were the better team. We controlled every department but we gave them the ball. We gave them another three big chances. Then when we had to score the goal, we didn’t find the right pass or the right shot.
“They were better in the boxes and that’s how you win games. We created enough opportunities. We didn’t score, we cannot win the game.”
Reflecting on Villa’s goal, Arteta added:
“We just gave them the ball, a moment you make a mistake and they punish you.
“You cannot win football matches if every week you do something like that. Four or five times we’ve played with 10 men. Against Wolves, we deserved to win both games by far but we lost both.
“[Red cards] cost us that game [against Wolves] – today other big decisions. Regardless of what the referee did today, we should win the game comfortably.”
