Emmanuel Petit reveals Mikel Arteta concern after shock Arsenal defeat
Emmanuel Petit was surprised by Mikel Arteta’s touchline demeanour against Bournemouth and says the Arsenal manager did not look himself.
Arsenal had the chance to go top of the Premier League on Saturday night but instead suffered their first defeat of the season as Bournemouth clinched a 2-0 win to climb into the top-half of the table.
The Gunners have shown the form that will be required to rival Manchester City and Liverpool for the title so far this season but suffered an early blow at the Vitality Stadium when William Saliba was sent off for denying Evanilson a goalscoring opportunity.
Saliba initially received a yellow card for the foul, which occurred just inside the Arsenal half, but was given his marching orders by referee Robert Jones following a VAR check.
Despite going down to ten men, Arsenal were still well in the game deep into the second-half before Bournemouth’s Ryan Christie broke the deadlock on 70 minutes from a well-worked corner.
Justin Kluivert put the game to bed 10 minutes later, beating David Raya from the penalty spot after the Arsenal goalkeeper brought down Evanilson following a short backpass from Jakub Kiwior.
While Arsenal failed to pile pressure on Liverpool and Man City ahead of their games on Sunday, Bournemouth’s win – their third in eight games – took them into the top-half of the Premier League table, above Manchester United.
Petit admits it was an off-night for Arsenal, who are bidding to win their first Premier League title since 2004, and says Arteta was curiously subdued on the touchline.
‘Even Mikel Arteta looked quiet on the bench today,’ Petit told Premier League Productions.
‘Usually he screams at his players to show energy all the time and tries to impact his players and talk to them every single second. But today he looked very quiet.’
Assessing Arsenal’s uncharacteristically flat performance, ex-Premier League striker Glenn Murray added: ‘I just felt from the off they weren’t quiet at it.
‘They didn’t have the same life about them. I love their mentality under Mikel Arteta but that wasn’t there tonight. That was Arsenal of old almost.’
Arteta, meanwhile, admitted Saliba’s first-half dismissal ‘cost’ his team as they returned to north London disappointed and empty-handed.
‘It’s very difficult to win in the Premier League with 10 men for 60-70 minutes, it’s just an accident waiting to happen,’ he told BBC Sport. ‘We have had to go through it in three games and that cost us the game.
‘We had the big chance and the moment in the game to score and have a different result and then we conceded a goal. We try to stick to the rules. The three [red cards] have been different ones and three very different outcomes.
‘The team tried, the effort with 10 men was fantastic but today it was not enough to win the game.
‘It took us a while to understand what we had do in the first 15 minutes to start with, then we grabbed the game but after 30 minutes the game changed.’
Saliba’s red card – his first in his 157th competitive appearance – means he will be suspended for next weekend’s clash against Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium.
For Bournemouth, beating title-chasing Arsenal represents a significant statement and suggests they can improve on last season’s 12th-place finish under impressive manager Andoni Iraola.
Cherries star Lewis Cook told Sky Sports: ‘Arsenal are a top top team, the football they have played in the last few years. But the lads dug deep, controlled the game in big spells and got the win.
‘We did a lot of work in the week. They have a lot of attacking players that can change the game. The red card helped so we could take control of the game.
‘Sometimes when a team go a man down they can start playing well, like they did at [Manchester] City. But we created the chances needed to win the game. We know we want to be clinical as each goal in this league is massive.
‘Arsenal are so compact. You think of them as an attacking team but they can adapt. We matched them today and got the win.’