Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal must blame themselves for Bournemouth defeat despite William Saliba's red card | Football News

Mikel Arteta said Arsenal had no plans to appeal William Saliba's red card against Bournemouth and insisted his side had themselves to blame for their 2-0 defeat on the south coast.

The 10-man Gunners suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season after a late goal from Ryan Christie and a penalty from Justin Kluivert at the Vitality Stadium.

The goals came after Saliba received Arsenal's third red card of the season for a last-man foul on Evanilson in the first half, which Robert Jones had initially ruled a yellow card offence.

The referee upgraded his decision to red after being told by VAR Jarred Gillett to go to the pitchside monitor, but Arteta had no objection to the decision after the game.

Instead, he blamed the mistakes that led to the incident, when Leandro Trossard's poor pass got his teammate Saliba into trouble and Gabriel Martinelli made a one-on-one miss just before Bournemouth's first goal of the second half.

“We are obviously very disappointed with the result and disappointed because we have to play again in this context,” he said. “This time it was even more difficult than the previous two we faced this season.

“Playing at this level with 10 men for 65 or 68 minutes is just an impossible task. It's an accident waiting to happen, not waiting to score the points. I can't fault the team for their effort, their commitment and their game intelligence in the way we have to do it.

“The 0-0 is of course a big moment when we have a great chance, one on one with the goalkeeper. We fail to score and on the other hand we do. We have ourselves to blame.”

“Football is a sport where mistakes are part of the game. Tonight we made two big mistakes that unfortunately cost us the game.”

On Saliba's decision to overthrow Evanilson, he said: “It's a split-second decision that you have to make.”

“The striker is lying on his back. He obviously doesn't expect the ball to suddenly come his way. He just made a decision and that was it.”

Asked if the club planned to appeal the decision, Arteta added: “That decision has been changed and now the decision will not change twice. So the decision has been made.”

“We have to accept it, move on and endure the pain we are currently feeling on Tuesday (against Shakhtar Donetsk).”

Arsenal were without the injured Bukayo Saka for this game, but Arteta offered no excuses. “Again, it's about using the pain we're feeling right now for Tuesday.

“This is the best way to do it. There’s no need to feel sorry for yourself because it’s happened three times in eight games.”

“We are missing our captain and one of our best players. That's all. That won’t get us anywhere.”

Rice laments Arsenal's 'naivety'

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was frustrated that more “stupid mistakes” cost his side against Bournemouth.

For the third time this season, Arsenal have had a player sent off in the Premier League, the first time in 13 years in their first eight games.

Arsenal had escaped with a point when Rice and Trossard were sent off against Brighton and Man City respectively, but they couldn't keep up against Bournemouth.

“We’ve kicked ourselves in the foot three times in eight games now,” he told Sky Sports.

“We got away unscathed twice – at home against Brighton, away against Man City – but luck doesn't always come.

“I’m proud of us for continuing to fight and believing. I think we played really well even with ten men.”

“The naive thing is that we have to stop making mistakes. We want 11 players for 90 minutes and that wins football games. That’s what wins football games.”

“With 10 men we showed a lot of character and personality.

“There's nothing to regret tonight other than the fact that we can't keep making stupid mistakes. You always need your best players on the pitch and then (a red card) gives the other players a mountain to climb when you only have 10 left.” Men.

“The belief in the group is still so great. We will stick together.”

Redknapp: Arsenal were sloppy even before the red

Sky Sports Expert Jamie Redknapp felt Arsenal were underwhelmed against Bournemouth and put this down to the absence of Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.

“Even before the red card, Arsenal were sloppy, leggy, passive, all the things you don't want to see. It wasn’t the Arsenal we were used to this season,” Redknapp said

“I can't remember Arsenal giving the ball away so many times at this stage of a game in a long time. They were wasteful, nobody really got the ball. And it makes you think, and I really like (Martin) Odegaard, and he gives Arsenal a sense of control about how much they missed him today.

“They missed (Bukayo) Saka because as soon as the ball goes to him, something can happen. Raheem Sterling is obviously a right-footed player, he plays on the right side, he doesn't have the same flow of the game that Saka gives you.” If you immediately look at the team list you think: yes, we have a real chance today, let's have this Arsenal team attack – two of their biggest players are not playing.

“This midfield was, I would say, functional today. There was no one who could give you that kind of cunning. And even when it went down to 10 men, of course they had a great chance to get Martinelli, but I didn't do it. They didn't feel like they had the ingredients to really expose this Bournemouth team and they just struggled the whole game.

“It was a really difficult evening for her. A lot of that is down to Bournemouth and their good performance, but I think Arsenal will be really disappointed.”

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