Arsenal F.C. manager Mikel Arteta has called on his players to harness the “pain” of their 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. as they attempt to reignite their Premier League title bid against rivals Tottenham Hotspur F.C..
The Gunners appeared set for a comfortable victory on Wednesday after goals from Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie gave them a 2-0 lead at Molineux Stadium.
However, Wolves responded through Hugo Bueno and Tom Edozie to secure a draw.
The result leaves Arsenal, who are seeking to end a 22-year wait for the English title, five points ahead of second-placed Manchester City F.C.. City, with a game in hand, have previously overhauled Arsenal to win the league in both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns, and their meeting in April could prove decisive.
Arsenal have now won only two of their last seven league fixtures, having also drawn with Brentford F.C..
Arteta insisted his players’ commitment was not in question. “I’m going to be the first one to be close with them (the players) because it has nothing to do with attitude or desire, it is completely the opposite.
“It’s part of football. Where it could’ve gone wrong today, it went wrong.
“If you look at the way we conceded the two goals today without conceding any other situations, it is very rare but it happens. And it happened for a reason and we need to react.
“If you are at the top you have to win and win, that’s nothing new.”
Arsenal travel to Tottenham on Sunday for the north London derby, with Arteta adding: “We need to go through the pain and go through it looking in the mirror and understand what the game requires now and the next action is Sunday. We need to keep all that in our tummies to show it on Sunday.”
Saka also expressed disappointment after the match. “It’s pretty flat. We’re pretty disappointed with the result, it’s the only way to describe it.
“I think it’s a game of two halves. In the first half we started so well but in the second half we dropped the level and got punished for it.”
Looking ahead to the derby, he said: “It was already a big game and now it’s still a big game…It’s still in our control so we just need to focus on that, fix the issues we’re having now and get back to winning ways.”