\n<\/p>\n
Danny Murphy has told Arsenal to \u201cmake some different decisions\u201d after Viktor Gyokeres made an excuse about the pitch in their 2-1 loss to Bournemouth.<\/p>\n
A Gyokeres penalty cancelled out Eli Junior Kroupi\u2019s early opener for the Cherries as Arsenal<\/strong> struggled to show their best form against Andoni Iraola\u2019s men.<\/p>\n And\u00a0Alex Scott won the match for Bournemouth on 74 minutes\u00a0with a cool finish as the Gunners lost their third match in four matches in all competitions.<\/p>\n Arsenal remain nine points ahead of Manchester City, who play Chelsea on Sunday, but the Citizens have two games in hand and face the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium on April 19.<\/p>\n Gyokeres blamed his side\u2019s lack of fluency against Bournemouth on a dry pitch but Murphy thinks that excuse from the Arsenal striker is laughable.<\/p>\n Murphy said on Match of the Day<\/em>: \u201cFunnily enough, even it the pitch was dry I don\u2019t think they played enough long balls.<\/p>\n MAILBOX: <\/span>Arteta sack? OK, *now* Arsenal are \u2018bottling it\u2019 as rivals rejoice in sensational schadenfreude<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBournemouth pressed them high and went man for man at the back. You\u2019ve got Martinelli and Madueke who started the game I didn\u2019t see them hit any long balls, play some percentages and try and spin them around.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if the pitch is dry, you\u2019ve got international players make some different decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Reacting to his side\u2019s performance and the impact on the Premier League title race, Arsenal boss Arteta said: \u201cIt\u2019s a big punch in the face, and extremely disappointing. That\u2019s what I said to the boys.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no grey areas. Today there were some very basic things that we did extremely badly. When you do that, they\u2019re going to capitalise, and it becomes very chaotic and very difficult to control.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to look at ourselves. We have to suffer. It\u2019s painful. It\u2019s a terrible feeling. But tomorrow is a different day. And if somebody would have said to me in August, we are in this position right now in April, I\u2019m sure we would all have taken it.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE ARSENAL COVERAGE ON F365\u2026<\/strong> Arteta on missing Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori, he added: \u201cWe can\u2019t control that. What we can control is our performances over the last nine months.<\/p>\n \u201cAnything that is said when you have a defeat at home, you have to accept that. There are no excuses. It\u2019s about how we\u2019re going to stand up, first of all, individually, and then as a team to change that immediately on Wednesday (against Sporting in the second leg).<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we need everything. We need everybody fit and available. The ones that were not involved today are really big, important players, and we need them immediately with us because then we\u2019re going to be much stronger.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then the other ones, they need to stand up. Me, being the first one, and embrace this challenge and go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n
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