Mikel Arteta’s reaction was that of fine margins after Arsenal dropped points in a 1-1 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
The Gunners blew a chance to move up the table, trailing early but merely finding one reply off a corner kick (naturally).
Arteta had begun to take umbrage in the media for his team’s goals coming off corner kicks. Bukayo Saka’s would-be late winner from the run of play will be a bitter pill to swallow, as Gabriel Martinelli was offside before receiving the entry pass on the left wing.
[ MORE: Fulham 1-1 Arsenal recap, analysis, player ratings ]
The outcome was unsatisfactory.
“It’s never enough if you don’t score three, four or five,” Arteta said. “If they play 11 direct balls I want to win 11. We want to win 100 percent.”
Arsenal could’ve closed to within four points of leaders Liverpool with a win, as the Reds did not play Saturday due to Storm Darragh’s effects on Merseyside.
Instead, Arsenal will finish the weekend in third place unlessChelsea are blown out by Tottenham later Sunday.
Mikel Arteta reaction — How dd Arsenal manager see rain-drenched draw at Fulham?
“Gutted that we didn’t win it because I think we deserved to win from the beginning to the end,” Arteta said, via football.london. “We did almost everything that we had to do to win it. This is the quality of the opposition and the league. For milimeters we could have been here with a really dominant win.”
Arsenal were missing Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori to injury, and said he was happy with the play of Jakub Kiwior and Thomas Partey in the back line.
“I’m really pleased with the performance of Jakub as well,” he said. “We had to change the whole unit. That’s it, they are not available. We have to respond to that and I’m very happy with the way they did. ... I cannot promise you with different personnel it wouldn’t happen. Sometimes you have to praise the opposition.”
