Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says Newcastle United were '10 times better than us'

Arsenal suffered a massive blow in their bid to finish in the top four places of the Premier League table. The Gunners lost their second game in a row, dropping them out of fourth place and making it extremely difficult for them to recover with only one match remaining in the season. On the back of losing 3-0 to Tottenham Hotspur last week, Mikel Arteta’s side had to bounce back to keep hold of the final Champions League spot. As it turned out, the London club was comfortably beaten 2-0 by Newcastle United. As a result, the Gunners have 66 points from 37 games, while Spurs have 68 points from the same number of matches.

Mouth-watering Sunday on the cards

Apart from that, Tottenham’s better goal difference of 24 to Arsenal’s nine implies Spurs will still finish fourth if both clubs finish with the same number of points. As a result, the Gunners have no other choice but to beat Everton on the final day and wish that Spurs lose at already relegated Norwich City to book a Champions League place. After the match against Newcastle, Arteta did not hold back his words in criticising the performance level shown by his players. In a one-sided game, Ben White’s own goal and Bruno Guimaraes’ late strike helped the hosts defeat Arsenal on Monday night.

“It was a really difficult night to swallow,” Arteta told Sky Sports. “Newcastle deserved to win the match comfortably, they were much better than us from the beginning to the last minute. We had nothing in the game. They were much better in every department. We were poor with the ball. A lot of things happened during the night, with the substitutions we had to make through injuries, but it’s not an excuse. Newcastle deserved to win the match.”

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Mikel Arteta: The execution was so poor

Arteta was then asked about what he had told his players in the dressing room following the 2-0 loss. The manager replied: “I’m extremely disappointed. That Newcastle were 10 times better than us and fully deserved the match. The performance was nowhere near the level if we want to play in the Champions League. When you see the team we have at the moment there are a lot of question marks in a lot of different positions, because of the injuries and suspensions we had. But it is not an excuse. Today we weren’t at the races.”

“We tried to change some things, but the execution was so poor and the goals we gave away were extremely poor,” he added. Sunday’s match against Everton will neither be easy since the Merseyside club is battling relegation. Still, Arteta is not giving up and believes there is always a chance. “There is always a chance in football and you have to be there just in case that chance appears,” Arteta said.