Mikel Arteta believed Arsenal were ‘in total control’ at times of their loss to Manchester United, but a failure to take chances thwarted them.
Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season when Manchester United beat them 3-1. Antony put the hosts ahead with a goal on his debut before Bukayo Saka equalised for Arteta’s side.
However, despite some adventurous substitutions, there was to be no comeback. Marcus Rashford went on to score a brace to take the game away from Arsenal.
It will leave Arteta with some things to reflect on after the loss of their perfect start to the season. Yet he felt their performance was still positive and enough to at least have got a result.
“I am really disappointed to lose the game, especially with the way it went over the 95 minutes,” he told Sky Sports. “We had some big periods where we were totally dominant and in total control.
“We created chance after chance but did not close the game. In any moment, when they have open spaces, they are going to hurt you.
“They had three big chances and scored three goals, we have numerous chances and we didn’t score enough.
“We had a period in the first 18 minutes when we struggle and did not control the game. But after that it was all us. We lose the ball in a really difficult place and play a ball in an area we don’t have to and one pass and they are through.
“We should come here and win because of the way we play. Because of the performance and the way we dominated the game.”
Arteta addresses disallowed goal
The outcome could have been different if Arsenal did not have a goal by Gabriel Martinelli disallowed for a foul in the build-up.
In terms of that decision, Arteta found what happened difficult to take in.
“Lack of consistency,” he said. “One is soft and last week they made a foul on Aaron but it is soft, it is not a foul. There is a foul on Bukayo, it is soft but not a penalty. Today it is a foul.
“The threshold in the first actions, you could see there is no yellow card because they want to keep a threshold in a big game. Really difficult to understand.”
The next game for Arteta to prepare for will be Thursday’s Europa League opener, away at Zurich.
