Mikel Arteta conceded defeat and congratulated RC Lens after the French side beat the Gunners 2-1 in their second game in Group B in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Arsenal scored first through Gabriel Jesus, but they recorded their first loss of the season after Adrien Thomasson and Elye Wahi scored for Lens.
While speaking to the press after the match, Arteta congratulated the hosts on a hard-fought victory, saying they are a well-coached side.
“First of all congratulations to Lens, they are a really good side, really well coached. We knew it was going to be a really tough match. I think we started the game and straight away got a grip of the game, scored the goal, the most difficult thing and we were in total control of the game,” Arteta said.
He added “The difference between today and PSV (where Arsenal won 4-0) is clear. The difference was in the boxes, we had four or five big chances and didn’t put them away, and we didn’t defend the boxes well enough.
“It’s true that there were moments in the second half we struggled to be more of a threat in the final third, and attack certain spaces, otherwise they defend those numbers really good and that’s something to take for the next game.”
Arsenal also suffered a loss in manpower when Bukayo Saka was forced off in the 33rd minute due to injury. Arteta insisted the English man was perfectly fine before kickoff.
“It was a knock that he picked up the other day, and he was perfectly fine. He was really looking forward to playing. Every player (was).
“He tried to backheel the ball in the first half and felt something, it was something muscular and he was uncomfortable to carry on so we had to take him off.”
When asked about how serious the injury is, the Spaniard replied; “We don’t know anything more than that, obviously it was big enough not to allow him to continue to play the game and that’s obviously a worry for us.”
Arteta said he has no clue on if Saka would be fit to face Manchester City this weekend.
