Arsenal striker Viktor Gyökeres blamed the ‘dry pitch’ at the Emirates Stadium for the team’s disappointing 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.
The Gunners saw their title ambitions suffer another massive blow as they failed to extend their gap at the top of the Premier League table. It was another underwhelming display from Mikel Arteta’s men, who managed just three shots on target throughout the encounter.
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Speaking post-match, Gyökeres, who scored the equalizer, praised Bournemouth’s performance before saying that lack of moisture on the surface of the pitch hampered his team’s efforts.
“They’re good on the counter-attacks,” Gyokeres told BBC. “They have good players and made some good combinations. But we need to do better. We had some chances in the end. The pitch was a bit dry, which didn’t help. I’m very confident. We don’t need to get stuck too much on what happened today. We need to look forward and be positive.”
Eli Junior Kroupi gave the Cherries the lead after 17 minutes, but Gyökeres restored parity from the spot before the break. Alex Scott scored the winner with just 16 minutes left on the clock.
Despite getting on the scoresheet, Gyökeres blasted a sitter over the bar and nodded a 92-minute header wide of the post before squandering another chance a minute later.
The result means Arsenal have now lost back-to-back Premier League home games against Bournemouth for the first time in the competition. The Gunners are now winless in three of their last four matches across all competitions. They will face second-placed Manchester City in their next league outing.
“It’s a punch in the face” – Mikel Arteta on Arsenal’s 2-1 loss to Bournemouth
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta did not hold back in his assessment of his team’s performance in the aftermath of their 2-1 loss to Bournemouth. Arteta admitted they were far from their standards and described the result as ‘disappointing’.
“A very disappointing result, we were very far from the standards that we’ve shown all season, so it’s a big punch in the face because we wanted to win this game so badly, and we didn’t cope with the situations when they didn’t go our way,” Arteta said. “You have to give them credit for what they’ve done and how efficient they were with the chances they created.
“But at the same time, we have to look at ourselves which is the most important thing, and after getting punched, it’s about how you react. There’s no more moment to protect anything, it’s a moment to go and attack, and to be very aggressive.”
Next up for Arsenal is a UEFA Champions League clash against Sporting CP on Wednesday, April 15.
Edited by Ezekiel Olamide
