Mikel Arteta admitted that Arsenal “probably didn’t do enough to win the game” against Crystal Palace on Thursday night.
Arsenal started the game well, but Crystal Palace did improve as the half went on. The Eagles had two really good chances to take the lead before the break.
In the 39th minute, Eberechi Eze sent a lovely free-kick into the penalty area. James Tomkins met it from around six yards out but his header cannoned off the bar.
Tyrick Mitchel created another big opening for the visitors moments later. He delivered a sublime cross towards Christian Benteke. The forward made good contact as he headed it towards the bottom corner. But Bernd Leno got down well to claw it away.
The Gunners performed better after the break. But as was the issue in many of their early games, they struggled to create any gilt-edge chances.
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The game soon fizzled out as it finished goalless at the Emirates. Mikel Arteta’s men are now unbeaten in their last four Premier League games.
This improved form has seen them rise up to eleventh in the top flight. But they are eight points behind Man City, Leicester City and Everton, who are all level on 32 points.
Speaking with Sky Sports post-match, as cited by BBC Sport, Arteta said he could not “fault the spirit” of his side against Palace:
“Some freshness and quality in the final third was missing. We had a lot of entries into the final third but no big, big chances.
“I wanted to see a win today and to score a few goals but we were fatigued. We gave the ball away, but I cannot fault the spirit. It wasn’t enough.
“Kieran Tierney is a real threat, and the way we attack on the left is really important but he is injured and we have to find a solution. He will have an MRI scan tomorrow.
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“Roy Hodgson has done that all through his career, that is how they beat a lot of big teams. We had the plan we just didn’t have the execution.
“We created a lot of situations against the low block but lacked the final quality. But we probably didn’t do enough to win the game.
“We are playing a lot of games, and you can see fatigue is paying a price, many players aren’t fresh.
“We had a period that was fatigue related where we kept giving the ball away and we lacked the quality in the final third to win the game.”
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