On February 15, when Manchester City was in town, Arsenal had a difficult night at home as they lost convincingly.
Following a 3–1 loss to Pep Guardiola’s team, Mikel Arteta watched as his team slid to second in the Premier League standings.
Thomas Partey, a player for Ghana, got injured and was replaced by new signing Jorginho in the midfield.
De Bruyne’s opener came from an awful Tomiyasu back-pass, whiles Bukayo Saka restored parity from the penalty spot after Eddie Nketiah was fouled in the City box.
City restored their lead through Jack Grealish before Erling Haaland sealed the three points that took City back to the summit of the league, the first time since November 2022.
The impact of Partey’s absence has divided opinions among social media users. Whiles some insisted Jorginho discharged himself creditably, others disagreed insisting Partey was missed.
Speaking in the post-match interview, the Arsenal coach rued missed chances by his charges. “It’s exceptionally difficult to play at the level they require you to play to have a chance to win.
“I thought in many moments we did and we had them, but if you give three goals the way we did and don’t put away the big chances we had, then the margin for error is almost zero. It’s a shame because we really had them.
“I don’t know if it’s experience or bad luck. I’ve never seen Tomiyasu make that pass back in seven years and he did it today. It’s part of it and they have the quality to punish you.”
When asked how difficult it will be to pick his players up after such a morale-sapping defeat, Arteta added: “We have to pick [up] the points, because the performances are there for sure. Games are decided in the boxes and we have given too much away today and weren’t ruthless enough to convert our chances. That’s what we have to improve.
“Psychologically there is a marathon still out there. I said it three months ago and I said it today, it’s about tomorrow. The most important thing is how we are tomorrow and focus on that because the rest, we don’t know what is going to happen.”
The Gunners travel to Villa Park in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off as they look to get back to winning ways.