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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admitted he was disappointed to see his side exit the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
THE LOWDOWN: FALL SHORT
Arsenal fell short in the Carabao cup on Wednesday as they were beaten 3-1 at the Emirates by Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Gunners have been good in all competitions this season and many expected a similar outcome or performance in the game on Wednesday. However, Arteta’s changed side couldn’t match up to the Seagulls in the all-Premier League affair.
It is the third defeat of the season for the Gunners and the first at the Emirates this season.
THE LATEST: MANAGER’S DISAPPOINTMENT
Mikel Arteta was disappointed to see his side knocked out of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
The Spaniard, although wasn’t too pleased with the result, says the performance was good.
Eddie Nketiah’s opener was cancelled out by a Welbeck penalty before Kaoru Mitoma and Tariq Lamptey added more goals to hand Brighton the win.
Speaking post-match, Arteta said: “I don’t think the result reflects what happened on the pitch, but the defence wasn’t in the boxes today. We created more than enough chances to win the game I think, but we come away with a painful result.
“We started the first 20 minutes of the second half really, really well. We were really dominant and we should have scored two or three goals, and in that moment we just conceded the second one and that changed the game.”
Arteta made 10 alterations to his side to try and keep everybody fresh after a gruelling run of fixtures over the past six weeks and went on to stress the importance of giving a chance to some players ahead of the World Cup.
“We wanted to give the chance to everybody that is involved in the squad and we believed that this was the competition to do it,” he added.
“I’m happy with the way they performed, but disappointed with the result.
“Sometimes in football you don’t always get what you deserve, and today I think it is the case. But we are out and we are sorry for that because we wanted a very different result, but now we have a big one coming up on Saturday.”
THE VERDICT: NO TIME TO LICK WOUNDS
The result was painful but the boys will have to move on quickly. The target remains to return back to the Champions League or perhaps mount a title challenge. Arteta and his men will now focus on the last game at Wolves this weekend before the World Cup break.
