Eddie Nketiah expects Arsenal to respond well to the Everton loss (Picture: Arsenal FC)
Eddie Nketiah is adamant Arsenal will respond well to Saturday’s shock defeat to Everton and get their Premier League title bid back on track against Brentford.
Struggling Everton stunned the Premier League leaders at Goodison Park, with James Tarkowski’s second-half header inflicting just a second league defeat on Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta’s side, chasing a first league title since 2004, were looking to move eight points clear of second-placed Manchester City but were denied as Sean Dyche enjoyed a dream start to his tenure at Everton.
While Nketiah admitted it was a ‘disappointing’ afternoon for Arsenal, he does not believe the setback will derail the club’s title challenge and expects the Gunners to return to winning ways against Brentford next weekend.
‘It was a difficult game,’ Nketiah told Arsenal’s official website. ‘They made it very tough.
‘Personally, we weren’t at the standard we needed to be at today and we’ve got to improve and make sure we bounce back in our next game.
‘Credit to them, they put out a good gameplan and executed it well today. I felt like we just didn’t execute ours to the best of our ability, we were a bit sloppy at times.
Arsenal suffered just their second defeat of the season (Picture: Getty)
‘These games happen, it’s a long season and everything’s not always going to go your way and we know that.’
Nketiah added: ‘Everyone’s disappointed of course. We want to win every game, especially for the travelling fans who came to support us. We wanted to give them all three points but unfortunately, we couldn’t do that.
‘I think their support all year has been excellent. It’s not an easy place to come to and travel up here so we’re grateful for them. Hopefully we can reward them with three points on Saturday.
‘Not everything is going to go your way, especially when you’re pushing and trying to achieve great things so the togetherness we’ve got here alongside the fans’ support, we’re going to bounce back.
‘I know we’re going to get a good result on the weekend.’
Brentford’s brilliant run of form continued on Saturday as Thomas Frank’s side beat bottom-placed Southampton 3-0. The Bees are now seventh in the Premier League, seven points outside the Champions League places.
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Struggling Everton stunned the Premier League leaders.
