Mikel Arteta claims his players ‘deserve a slap’ after Brighton defeat

Brighton humiliated Arsenal at their home ground on Saturday night.

The Gunners have now dropped to fifth in the Premier League standings after their devastating 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace over the weekend.

This loss has threatened their quest for Champions League qualification as Spurs are now three points clear of their North London counterpart although Arsenal still has a game in hand.

The Arsenal boss seemed quite upset after they suffered a blow in the top-four race.

‘It has been a tough week; especially today because we wanted a reaction [to the defeat at Crystal Palace].’ Arteta said.

‘It came in the second half, which is too late; we have to have the courage and personality to play much better and raise the level in the first half.

‘We made it really difficult for ourselves. We were sloppy, we had no purpose to attack, we were really imprecise and we didn’t want to play forward.

‘We’ve shown for many weeks how well we can play; it has been a difficult week and we’ve lost some big players, but if you get what you want, not everything is going to be with a blue sky.

‘This is our team in the good moments and especially the defeats. There are many games to play but we have to be concerned about that performance, especially first half.’

See More: Top 5 Arsenal Players Who Can Leave 2022: Transfer News Latest