Abel Ndooka
BRIGHTON. — Arsenal’s costly 1-1 Premier League draw at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday was compounded by an injury to 17-year-old goal-scorer Ethan Nwaneri as coach Mikel Arteta blamed simple mistakes for his side dropping points.
Nwaneri did a superb job of replacing the injured Bukayo Saka on the right wing and scored in the 16th minute, but he had to be withdrawn at the interval before the Gunners conceded a penalty to drop two points in the title race.
“Really bad news, because I think we’ve lost him (Nwaneri). We had to take him off at halftime with some muscular issues,” Arteta told the BBC.
Nwaneri’s departure coincided with Arsenal losing their way against a Brighton side that struggled to create chances, and the result left the Gunners second in the table, five points adrift of Liverpool who have two games in hand.
“In the second half, we didn’t really grab the game or dominate enough to have certain moments and be more of a threat in their half, but defensively we did not concede much,” Arteta said.
“Today was not about fatigue, it was about the simple things that we have to do in ball possession to give chances and dominate the game in the right areas,” the Spaniard added.
Arteta described the decision to award a penalty to Brighton for a clash of heads between Joao Pedro and Arsenal defender William Saliba as bizarre.
“We are really disappointed with the decision that leads to the goal, because I have never seen something like this in my life. He (Saliba) touches the ball as well,” Arteta said.
Meanwhile, While Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said he would sleep better after Saturday’s 4-1 Premier League rout of West Ham United, he brushed off suggestions that his team were back to being the “old Manchester City”.
Erling Haaland bagged his first double in a league game since September and Savinho set up three goals in City’s victory that left them sixth in the table and two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
Though City won back-to-back games for the first time since October, Guardiola said it was not a sign that their slump was over.
“No, you judge the results,” he told reporters after the crowd-pleasing win at Etihad Stadium. “We saw in many years our level. We are not at our level.—Reuters.
Online Reporter
