BOURNEMOUTH - Arsenal suffered a shock defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday but there is no blame game from the Gunners.
[ MORE: 3 things we learned from Arsenal's loss at Bournemouth ]
Once again they were reduced to 10 men early in the game, with William Saliba sent off in the first half, but Arsenal looked unlike the Arsenal we've come to expect in this loss at Bournemouth.
Declan Rice and Mikel Arteta spoke about cutting out "silly mistakes" and only having themselves to blame for their first defeat of this season, their first Premier League defeat since April and their first league away defeat since December 31, 2023.
Speaking to reporters after the game in the tunnel area at the Vitality Stadium, Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey didn't shy away from Arsenal's main issue: keeping all 11 players on the pitch.
"We had a great game and we had a couple of chances and I think that the players have worked very hard and we played as a team," Partey explained. "Unfortunately we got the one player sent off, which is part of football. We have to continue working and we have to learn from the mistakes and try to not let it happen again.
"We try to win our duels and sometimes these things happen. Sometimes we cannot control it, we have to just stick together, continue working and red cards do happen in games. So at the end of the day, it's part of football. We have to learn from every mistake we do and then try to not let it happen."
Red cards finally catch up with Gunners Partey said he hadn't seen a replay of Saliba's red card but thought Ben White was covering. After a VAR check, referee Rob Jones changed his mind and upgraded Saliba's yellow card to a red and Arsenal's players and Arteta, generally, had no complaints.
That debate aside, Arsenal have now had a player sent off in three of their eight Premier League games this season. They've failed to win those three games and they've won the other five. Partey was asked about Arteta's comments that Arsenal won't win the league if they're consistently playing with 10 players.
"Yeah, of course, we have to try and stay with 11 men, which is very difficult," Partey explained. "But any time where we have 11 players on the pitch we always dominate the game and we win the game. As I said, we have to learn from these mistakes and we will try to not let it happen again...
"We have a very good squad and we know every time we stay with 11 men on the pitch we are going to dominate the game and we are always thinking of winning. We want to win every game but sometimes as I said, things do happen on the pitch that you cannot control. We have to win out any contest, today we could not do it. So we have to forget about today and concentrate on our next game."
For context, since Arteta took charge of Arsenal in December 2019 they've received 18 red cards, which is five more than any other Premier League club.
Injuries pushing squad to its limit as mental fatigue builds These suspensions and playing large chunks of games down a man have coincided with huge injury problems to start this season, with key players such as Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka missing on Saturday.
That means this current Arsenal squad is patched up, stretched to its limits and having to play draining games galore as they continue to pick up needless red cards. It also seems like the same players who are being rolled out time and time again are suffering from mental fatigue as the silly errors continue. David Raya and Ben White looked shaky at Bournemouth and Arsenal's sloppy defensive display was so unlike them as they've now failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last four games in the Premier League.
Partey admitted Arsenal are missing some of their top players, and a deeper squad, and it's impacting confidence levels.
"Well, I think when need all the players. It is important when you have your full squad, you are more confident," Partey explained. "But we are a team, we are working hard and there is a lot of competition. So for me individually and for other players I think we have to continue to work hard and focus on the game and not on our missing players."
Arsenal focus on "bouncing back" ahead of key week A key player that will be missing for the huge game at home against Liverpool next Sunday is William Saliba.
The commanding center back made the split-second decision to haul back Evanilson after a poor mistake from Leandro Trossard and he will be a big miss for the crunch clash against fellow title hopefuls.
"He's a massive player who we are going to miss and somebody has to step up," Partey admitted. "We have good defenders and the coach knows what he is going to do to help the team and also, any player who is there has to step in and try to give their best."
Arsenal's long unbeaten run away from home is over, but ahead of a big week against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and Liverpool in the Premier League, Partey says he and his teammates are ready to show a reaction after an unexpected setback.
"Yeah, it is up to us. We have to do it [show a reaction]," Partey said. "This is why we are here, we are professionals and we demand a lot from each other. So I think the next step is to bounce back."
