"Big time": Arteta sends message to Vieira after criticism over Arsenal's mental strength

Arsenal succumbed to their third Premier League defeat of the season after a 3-2 loss to Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

The Gunners were far from their best, and United capitalised with a couple of stunning long-range goals from Patrick Dorgu and Matheus Cunha in the second half.

Shortly after the game, Gunners legend Patrick Vieira questioned the squad’s mental strength and whether they could get over the line for a long-awaited title.

Unsurprisingly, manager Mikel Arteta was asked about Vieira’s comments in his post-match presser.

The Spanish tactician said that everyone is entitled to their opinion and acknowledged that the club were punished ‘big time’ by the Red Devils for their mistakes.

He told Arsenal.com: “That’s fine. We accept every opinion when it comes and where it’s coming from, and they will have the right reasons to say.

“At the end we have to show the mental strength that we have on the pitch when it comes to matchday and we were absolutely brilliant in Milan and today we weren’t that good.

“I don’t know if it was mental because of how much they play, but because we were poor, especially technically in certain aspects of the game against a team that when you make those mistakes, they can punish you big time and that was the difference.”

With yesterday’s disappointing result, Arsenal remain only four points ahead of Manchester City and Aston Villa, who won their respective matches during the gameweek.

The Gunners take on Kairat Almaty in the final league phase game of the Champions League on Wednesday night, where they are expected to secure an easy victory.

There will be multiple changes to the starting XI for the game. Declan Rice and Mikel Merino are suspended, while one of William Saliba or Gabriel Magalhaes could be rested.

Jurrien Timber, Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard could be given a breather too. Arsenal must respond with a commanding win at the Emirates.

Arsenal’s next league game will be against Leeds United at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon. It could be another tricky challenge with the Whites having found form over the past month.

The Gunners have a good head-to-head record over them. They won 5-0 in the reverse fixture, which was their seventh straight victory in all competitions against the Yorkshire outfit.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com

The post "Big time": Arteta sends message to Vieira after criticism over Arsenal's mental strength first appeared on ArsenalNews.co.uk.