Mikel Arteta admitted that his Arsenal team were a no match for Manchester City during their 4-1 loss to the Manchester side on Wednesday night.
Arsenal endured a very horrible first half that rendered them noncompetitive and saw them concede two goals, enroute to their devasting loss.
Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland especially subjected Arteta’s boys to some unending misery, with the former scoring a brace and the latter notching two assists and City’s fourth goal. John Stones was also on the score-sheet as Man City mercilessly saw off their title rivals.
“Analysis is clear, the better team won the game, they were probably at their best, especially in the first half and we were nowhere near our level. When that happens, the gap becomes too big.” Arteta said.
The Spaniard who is a student of Pep Guardiola went on to analyze their defeat.
“In the first 30 minutes, all the basic things you have to do against an exceptional team in terms of competing, winning duals, understanding what the game requires, we didn’t do it and we got punished and we could have been punished even more.
“We wanted to tweak a few things but we were unable to execute. We have to be loyal to what has brought us all this way because we have done it in the past as well in different ways. It doesn’t guarantee you anything but it is time to look in the mirror as well at what we could have done better.
“We played an exceptional team but we are an exceptional team too and today we were not at the races at the level required to win the game
“We lost today and we have to accept we lost in a very different way to at the Emirates. The quality of the performance today was very far between one team and the other.”
Arsenal’s hopes of ending their 19-year wait for a Premier League trophy may have ended because with that loss, City are now just two points behind, but with two games in hand on the Gunners.
Arsenal who have now gone four games without a win will need a miracle of sorts to deny City the trophy.
