'We should have been three or four up'

Mikel Arteta was left to rue an astonishing sequence of events as we lost at Wolves after dominating so much of the game.

Nicolas Pepe fired us ahead, and a combination of marginal VAR decisions and the woodwork deprived us of a more commanding lead before David Luiz was sent off on the stroke of half-time.

 

Wolves equalised from the resulting penalty and went on to win a match in which they had been second best for so long.

 

"I think with the way we played in the first half, we should have been three or four goals up," Arteta told Arsenal Media.

 

"We really dominated the game, we created some big chances that we could not score. We hit the post, hit the bar, some big saves. Then the turning point was when David got sent off. It was 1-0 just before half-time, we go to 10 men, concede a goal and then it's a mountain to climb."

 

Bernd Leno's sending off removed any lingering hopes of a fightback, but Arteta tried to lift his players after the match.

 

"I told them that I'm so proud of them because of the way they reacted in the second half, the way they tried to come out and still tried to win the game, it was magnificent," he said.

 

"At half-time they were all really animated and encouraging each other to rebuild as a team and try to still win it. Even with nine players, the way they tried was incredible."