Mikel Arteta Takes ‘Full Responsibility’ In Arsenal’s Loss To Aston Villa

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta could not help but feel disappointed after his team suffered a 3-nil loss to Aston Villa in their latest English Premier League match on Sunday.

The 38-year-old coach held himself accountable for how the Gunners performed but also recognized the fact that the Lions outplayed the Emirates Stadium-based squad.

"First of all congratulations to Aston Villa for the way they played and the victory," Arteta said, as quoted by Goal.

Ollie Watkins was offensively on point for the Villans, hauling two goals across a three-minute stretch in the second half to build a 3-0 leverage with 15 minutes left to play. The next thing Arteta and his crew realized that the game was out of their reach.

Arteta lamented the mentality that his wards exhibited right after Bukayo Saka inadvertently gave Aston Villa the lead with an own goal early in the contest.

"After that, we performed below our standards, and I have to say it's the first time I've seen us play [like that] and we weren't a team,” he bared.

While he takes the blame for the harrowing loss, Arteta rued their poor dribbling of the ball to the other end of the field as it lessened their chances to get on the board.

"I take full responsibility. We didn't start well enough. We got away with VAR for an offside situation, but we lost all the races, the duels and we were sloppy on the ball," the head honcho explained.

"When we created chances, we didn't hit the target. It's a really bad combination. We left spaces and on the counter, we looked really vulnerable."

Arteta believes that he deserves to take all the blame for the one-sided defeat to Aston Villa.

"I take full responsibility. I am responsible to make the team perform on the pitch, and today we were not a team and it is my job. It is why I am standing here,” he stated.

It is a bitter pill to swallow, but Arteta stressed that they have no other choice but to learn from it and move forward.

"When something like that comes up, it's a hard one to take. But in a hard moment, you learn more than in a positive moment and I want to see how we react," he mentioned.

Arsenal will look to bounce back after the international break when they go up against Leeds United on Nov. 22 in the Premier League.