Arteta believes ‘very unlucky’ Arsenal ‘dominated’ Chelsea and conceded ‘very poor’ goal

Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal were “very unlucky” not to beat Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday.

Arsenal are nine points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool after Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring for the Gunners, who were pegged back by a superb Pedro Neto strike.

After the match, Arsenal manager Arteta said his players “were very unlucky” not to return to north London with all three points.

“I am very disappointed but very proud as well with what I have seen from the team again,” he told BBC Sport. “We did the most difficult one to score the first goal but very disappointed with the way we conceded.

“The standards and our defensive habits were nowhere near. They have quality and if you give them space they are going to punish you.

“But then the team reacted in a way that was fabulous with the desire to win, show initiative, take risks and be so dominant but we didn’t manage to score the [winning] goal.

“They destroy every team that comes here in every way, but I thought we were superb. We were very unlucky. We have dominated one of the best teams in Europe but we don’t get the results. That is what is missing.

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“We are still missing a lot and some of the guys out there are not in the best condition and that is all we are asking, that they are fit and available and the physical condition to play at this level and we have not had any of that.

“It was patch, after patch, after patch – a lot of players starting and not in the condition to finish games, so that is what I am praying for.”

Arteta added to Sky Sports: “The disappointment of not getting three points is bigger [than being satisfied] and it will probably be bigger after watching it back.

“I think we dominated them, we were the better team in many phases and situations in the game and after going ahead, very disappointed in the way we conceded. It was so poor. It is not our standards and we don’t accept.”

“What we have found is that every day we have had to change something big, you know, the engine, the wheels, steering wheel because we’ve had problem after problem. Normally the team goes down but this team has unbelievable energy and spirit to play.”

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard returned to the starting XI after six weeks out and played the full match. Speaking after the match, he said: “Unbelievable…back doing what I love.

“It has been a long time, the longest I have been out of football in my whole life. It felt good to be back out there although disappointed we didn’t get the win.

“We’ve done a lot of work with the fitness coaches and physios pushing me every day. I wanted to come back as soon as possible. I felt okay today. I didn’t expect it [to play 90 minutes]. I’ve only done three training sessions with the team or something.

“It is a long season, long way to go. We had a tough period in December last season and came back. We know the quality and mentality we have and we just have to keep going.”