Mike is at pick-up point!

Arsenal boss Arteta points to ‘difficult dressing room’ after 0-2 loss to West Ham, but stresses on the need to get up and beat Fulham on Sunday

Arsenal missed out on the chance to return to the Premier League summit on Thursday, losing 0-2 to West Ham as Tottenham went down in a six-goal thriller at 
Brighton. 

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners were top of the tree at Christmas for a second successive year, but trail leaders Liverpool by two points at the halfway point of the season.

Soucek, Mavropanos score

Last year’s runners-up dominated possession at the Emirates, but lacked a cutting edge against the disciplined visitors, for whom Tomas Soucek and former Arsenal player Konstantinos Mavropanos scored the goals. Soucek opened the scoring from close range in the 13th minute following a pass from Jarrod Bowen, with the goal confirmed after a lengthy VAR check looking into whether the ball had gone out of play.

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Mikel Arteta

Areola saves Saka’s header

Arsenal surged forward in relentless waves and West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola made a fine reaction save from a Bukayo Saka header on the half-hour. Defeat leaves the Gunners in second place on 40 points, one clear of Aston Villa and three ahead of Manchester City, who have a game in hand. Arteta said his team deserved more for their dominance. “We want to be at the top and today we are very, very disappointed,” he told the BBC.

“We had so much dominance in the game. We are in a really good position. Today is a disappointing night. We have to pick ourselves up for a big game against Fulham.” 

He added: “The players put an enormous effort in. It’s a difficult dressing room right now but we have another game in 72 hours. This is football, we have to improve in certain areas.” 

Tottenham, this season’s early pacesetters, remain in fifth spot after losing 4-2 despite threatening an astonishing comeback from 4-0 down. 

Meanwhile, Manchester City’s Jack Grealish was burgled while the England star was playing a match at Everton on Wednesday. Grealish’s Cheshire mansion in north-west England was targeted by thieves as he was in action for the Premier League champions during their 3-1 victory on Merseyside.

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