Arteta: Playing with 10 men in Premier League ‘an impossible task’ | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has highlighted discipline as a key work-on for Arsenal after the Gunner’s suffered their third red card of the season in an away loss at Bournemouth.

With the match deadlocked, a loose Arsenal backpass sent Evanilson through on goal before he was clumsily brought down by William Saliba, who saw red for obstructing a clear goalscoring opportunity.

It was an uphill battle from there for Arsenal. While they kept the match deadlocked until the 70th minute, luck ran out when Ryan Christie smashed a long range goal beyond David Raya. The win was cemented nine minutes later, when Justin Kluivert converted a penalty to double the hosts’ advantage.

Speaking at full time, Mikel Arteta bemoaned his squad’s growing discipline issue.

He said: “To play 65 or 68 minutes with 10 men at this level, it’s just an impossible task. It’s an accident waiting to happen not to get the points.

“I don’t know what more we can do when we have to play away from home in this league. It’s hard enough doing it with 11 men, so what we’ve done with 10 I think was quite remarkable.

“We are very disappointed with the result and gutted because we had to play in that context again. I cannot fault the team for their effort, their commitment, to play in the way we had to do it.”

The loss is Arsenal’s first of the season and their first competitive defeat since Bayern Munich knocked them out of the Champions League in April.

Saliba’s sending off played a pivotal role in the match, but Arteta refused to lay the blame on the Frenchman.

“What happens today is almost unpredictable – that the winger is going to play the ball to the centre back one touch. Very difficult to plan for it.”

He did, however, admit Arsenal will not be able to challenge for the title if they do not find a workaround, saying “we need to play 11 vs 11 if we want to be in the position that we want to be.”

Arsenal will have an opportunity to get back to winning ways on Tuesday night as they host Shaktar Donetsk in the Champions League.

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