Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta completely disagreed with something Ollie Watkins said following Aston Villa’s shock win yesterday.
Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal players were left stunned by Unai Emery’s team, who made haste of the home side not taking their chances in the first half.
Arsenal initially started the game looking like a side determined to make the most of Liverpool’s slip up, avoiding anything similar themselves.
But when the likes of Gabriel Jesus couldn’t quite get their feet sorted in the vital moments, the anxiety around the Emirates did begin to grow.
Meanwhile, Emery was busy in the Aston Villa dressing room delivering a half-time team talk that inspired a second half performance of the ages.
Arsenal have been so good this season, they deserved to be in first place before the weekend started.
However, Villa then played them off the field in the second half, controlling every aspect of play.
That being said, Ollie Watkins did speak about that win and what he noticed about Arsenal in the aftermath.
Mikel Arteta disagrees with Ollie Watkins’ comments that Arsenal looked tired and frustrated
In an interview with BBC Sport, Arteta was asked to react to Watkins’ comments that Arsenal looked fatigued in the second half.
And in defiant fashion, the Spaniard was quick to disagree.
The interviewer initially asked: “Watkins has just said that he could sense Arsenal were getting frustrated and maybe getting tired as well.”
Arteta responded: “Well, that’s him saying that.”
Interviewer: “You didn’t feel that?”
Arteta: “No.”
Of course, Arsenal did make a couple of changes after drawing with Bayern Munich mid-week, with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard all coming in.
And perhaps rather than physical fatigue, there may have been a mental barrier for the Arsenal players in the second half such is the size of the task they are chasing right now.
Arsenal don’t deserve to be called ‘bottle jobs’
It’s a new experience for this young team, chasing both a Premier League and European trophy.
And although some fans will come out with the typical ‘bottle jobs’ comments today, that isn’t fair on Arsenal.
Aston Villa simply delivered a second half performance good enough to win any game, deserving three points.
And Unai Emery’s side should be given credit, rather than Arsenal being struck down.
Although many believe it to be, the title-race is far from over, and Mikel Arteta will be determined to prove so.
All that being said, Declan Rice was pretty complimentary about one Aston Villa man after yesterday’s defeat.
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