{"id":2048,"date":"2026-04-12T03:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T03:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2048"},"modified":"2026-04-12T03:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T03:41:16","slug":"mikel-arteta-sends-message-to-bruised-arsenal-stars-after-painful-bournemouth-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2048","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta sends message to bruised Arsenal stars after painful Bournemouth defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<h2 class=\"LeadText_lead-text__wd_PA __className_b6bb55\" data-testid=\"leadtext\">Mikel Arteta has made it crystal clear to his Arsenal players that they need to be ready to fight for the Premier League title after they opened the door for Manchester City<\/h2>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX ImageEmbed_image-lead__Ti3qQ\" data-testid=\"leadimage\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"36999357\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Arsenal's loss against Bournemouth could prove pivotal in the title race\" loading=\"eager\" sizes=\"(max-width: 508px) 508px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999357.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_GettyImages-2270853065.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999357.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s508\/0_GettyImages-2270853065.jpg 508w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999357.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_GettyImages-2270853065.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999357.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_GettyImages-2270853065.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Arsenal's loss against Bournemouth could prove pivotal in the title race\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Arsenal&#8217;s loss against Bournemouth could prove pivotal in the title race<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Mikel Arteta has told his Arsenal stars to &#8220;stand up and go for the fight or you&#8217;re out&#8221; after their loss to Bournemouth which blew the Premier League title race wide open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Gunners came into Saturday&#8217;s lunchtime kick-off having lost two of their last three games, which had seen them miss out on the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup. Those defeats have ramped up the pressure but Arsenal failed to produce the desired response.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">They fell behind early on against the Cherries, who took the lead for a second time through Alex Scott. His 74th minute strike would prove to be the winner as fans exited the Emirates before the final whistle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Arteta is still trying to deliver the title in north London after a number of near misses. They have held a huge advantage but, despite being nine points clear, they could see Manchester City leapfrog them inside the next fortnight if results go against them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Spaniard has continued to face criticism for failing to get over the line and has told his Arsenal players to find the stomach for a difficult final stretch or face being dropped.<\/p>\n<p><span data-testid=\"readmore\" class=\"ReadMore_readmore-prefix__xS44r __className_020eaf\">READ MORE<!-- -->: <span class=\"ReadMore_readmore-link__eF9pN\">Arsenal player ratings vs Bournemouth as FIVE stars score 2\/10 in horror showing<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"readmore\" class=\"ReadMore_readmore-prefix__xS44r __className_020eaf\">READ MORE<!-- -->: <span class=\"ReadMore_readmore-link__eF9pN\">How Man City can go top in ELEVEN days after massive Arsenal slip up<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">He told <a aria-label=\"TNT SportsLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tntsports.co.uk\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">TNT Sports<\/a>: &#8220;It has to hurt. They have to take it on the chin. You stand up and go for the fight or you&#8217;re out. It&#8217;s a big week. A lot at stake. We&#8217;re still in a good position in both competitions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Arsenal face City next weekend in a game that could well decide the destination of the title. Before that they have the second-leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Sporting Lisbon to think about. Pep Guardiola&#8217;s side don&#8217;t have such a distraction and have begun clicking into gear at the right time as they bid to overhaul Arsenal in another title race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Bournemouth extended their unbeaten run to 12 games as they won at the Emirates for the second successive season, but Arteta admitted his side were not themselves.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"image-group\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX false\" data-testid=\"imageembed-36999311\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"36999311\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"image\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mikel Arteta's side have lost three of their last four games\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 458px) 458px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999311.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_GettyImages-2270291136.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999311.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s458b\/0_GettyImages-2270291136.jpg 458w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999311.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_GettyImages-2270291136.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36999311.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_GettyImages-2270291136.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Mikel Arteta's side have lost three of their last four games\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side have lost three of their last four games<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">He said: &#8220;Disappointing. It&#8217;s a big punch in the face and it&#8217;s about how we react now. They are a team who haven&#8217;t lost for 11 games for a reason, they did a lot right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;We were far from efficient. The first chance they had to attack the box, it&#8217;s a deflection, a bad defending action and it&#8217;s a goal. That&#8217;s something we have to recover from. The second half you expect a different game. We did a lot of strange things today. We have been very consistent. This can happen, this is football.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/Feq1SEG6mXDIZGTTnek7oz\" rel=\"nofollow\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\"><em>Join our new WhatsApp community<\/em><\/a>  and receive your daily dose of <em>Mirror<\/em> <em>Football<\/em> content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don&#8217;t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you&#8217;re curious, you can read our <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reachplc.com\/site-services\/privacy-policy\" rel=\"nofollow\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\"><em>Privacy Notice.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<aside class=\"Factbox_factbox-container__hSMOa\" id=\"factbox\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"Entering Factbox content\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"36950236\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"factbox\" data-testid=\"factbox\">\n<h3 class=\"HeadingThree_heading-three__PBHLs Factbox_heading-three__NXU52 __className_e65c2b\">World Cup Legends &#8211; special edition on sale now<\/h3>\n<div class=\"Factbox_content__xdMV8\">\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">There is nothing like the World Cup to create legends and this new special edition publication celebrates the heroes of the planet&#8217;s greatest sporting competition<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"image-group\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX false\" data-testid=\"imageembed-36922808\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"36922808\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"image\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(max-width: 458px) 458px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36922808.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_WORLD-CUP-LEGENDS-NO-BRANDING-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36922808.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s458b\/0_WORLD-CUP-LEGENDS-NO-BRANDING-1.jpg 458w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36922808.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_WORLD-CUP-LEGENDS-NO-BRANDING-1.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36922808.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_WORLD-CUP-LEGENDS-NO-BRANDING-1.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Buy your copy today <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/shop.regionalnewspapers.co.uk\/world-cup-legends-5666-p.asp?utm_source=World+Cup+Legends-Reachwide&amp;utm_medium=World+Cup+Legends-Reachwide-Factbox&amp;utm_campaign=World+Cup+Legends&amp;utm_id=World+Cup+Legends\" rel=\"nofollow\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">HERE<\/a> or in participating supermarkets, high street retailers and independent newsagents from Wednesday March 25, 2026. Any online orders will be dispatched from Wednesday <\/strong><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">March 25 <\/strong><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">and postage and packaging applies.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mikel Arteta has made it crystal clear to his Arsenal players that they need to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}