Arteta: "The team reacted amazingly"

Mikel Arteta said the way his team and the supporters responded to going down to 10 men on Saturday was ‘amazing’ and believes we could still have taken all three points.

Declan Rice’s second yellow card, right at the start of the second half completely changed the complexion of the game, allowing Brighton to come back and take a point, ending our 100 per cent start to the campaign.

After the game Arteta reflected on that pivotal referee’s decision, and his team’s response.

“We started the game really well,” she said. “We created three or four big chances that we didn’t convert, unfortunately. Then we had a period where we had some problems, especially the giveaway that we gave after regaining the ball, but we scored a really good goal.

“We were on top of the match, we started the second half really well and, in that moment, the referee makes a decision that obviously changes the course of the game for us. And then still like this, the team reacted amazingly, the crowd reacted amazingly, and we should have won the game.

The manager also said he was disappointed with some of the referee’s decisions on the day

“We had to adapt to the context, we thought it was very inconsistent,” he said. “And he made one decision, by the book he can make, but he totally missed to make the second one, and we should have played 10 against 10.”

Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka both had chances to win it on the counter, after we had been reduced to 10 men.

“That’s what we set up,” the boss said. “It was trying to find that situation to limit them in their attacking threat. They’re a really good side, so to play 47 minutes with 10 men at this level is very tricky, but I think we did that really well, and we were unfortunate not to win it.

“Now we have to think about what we have done in the first few games, start to prepare for the next cycle, make sure that everybody that’s on international duty comes back with good health, and ready for the next things.”