We were nowhere near our level and extremely poor against PSV, asserts Mikel Arteta

While Arsenal have been flying at the start of the 2022/23 season, the Gunners have endured a slight dip in form recently with a lacklustre draw against Southampton. However, there were signs that the club had hit a plateau with 1-0 wins over Bodo/Glimt and Leeds United although things were at their worst against PSV Eindhoven recently. It saw the Dutch side tear apart the North Londoners as Arsenal struggled to threaten and failed to create too many opportunities.

That hurt Mikel Arteta’s side in the end as PSV ran away as 2-0 winners on the night and ended Arsenal’s nine-game unbeaten streak. It saw Arteta admit that his side wasn’t at its best against PSV and was “extremely poor” even if they had periods where they looked good. He also added that it’s his responsibility to get them back on track and believes he can do just that.

"It’s the end of a long run and now it’s time to reset and analyse what happened. PSV deserved to win, no question. We were nowhere near our level today. Last week the game was all ours. Today it was very different and when you play like that against the top teams it’s very difficult to win. Today we were extremely poor,” Arteta said, reported Goal.

“There have been periods recently when we have been excellent and others when we have suffered. We’ve not had the consistency for 95 minutes that we want. We didn’t have the threat and aggression we’ve been playing at and that is worrying. The moment something went wrong we just went down and didn’t know how to react. 

“It’s my responsibility to get the best from the players. They have been exceptionally good and playing at a level that probably no one expected. Now it’s down to me to get the best out of them.”