Mikel Arteta on Leicester Loss, VAR & David Luiz's Injury

Arsenal's frustrating start to the new season continued on Sunday as they fell to a disappointing 1-0 loss to Leicester City.

The Gunners, who saw a goal from Alexandre Lacazette controversially ruled out for offside, were undone by a late strike (and Leicester's only on target) from substitute Jamie Vardy.

There were plenty of talking points during the game, and here's what Arteta had to say (via the club's official website).


On the Disallowed Goal

Arsenal thought they had opened the scoring | Pool/Getty Images

Lacazette's header appeared to be chalked off as it was directed towards an offside Granit Xhaka, who was not obstructing the goalkeeper and did all he could to get out of the way of the ball as it flew towards the goal.

"Yes [it's harsh] because Granit is behind Schmeichel, he is not in front of him so he is nothing to do with that ball, it is away from him and Granit is behind. But it's okay, they made that decision and we cannot change it.

"We can have our view, but we have the specialists who are the referees to make that decision and they made a call that it wasn't allowed and obviously it had a massive impact on the game because you have two teams where the margins are minimal and you can see in the Premier League at the moment that this is a big margin. I think we should still have not lost the game."


On Lacazette Lacking Confidence

Lacazette was not at his best | Pool/Getty Images

"Obviously, strikers need goals and he started tonight [Sunday], he looked sharp and he was really aggressive in his play. Yeah, he had an opportunity to score that goal and he didn't. I just support them and give them more confidence and [help them] try to create more."


On David Luiz's Injury

Luiz limped off after the break | Pool/Getty Images

Arsenal lost David Luiz to injury shortly after the break, with Shkodran Mustafi brought on to replace him.

"I don't know. We've lost a few players in the last week or so. David had a muscular problem and he couldn't carry on - we'll have to assess him in the next 48 hours."


On a Lacklustre Second Half

"I think fatigue had a say as well. We didn't look as sharp on the ball. We didn't have as much purpose on the ball to create. Obviously, David was giving us something different when we had to attack the low block with his ability to attack the line and provoke, always threatening in behind. We lacked that a little bit in the second half.

"Still, credit to them, they are really organised when they do that. It is really difficult to create the chances. We created a really good one with Héctor [Bellerín] again and we didn't convert. That's the difference at the end, in the box, what we are able to do. Certainly, it's an aspect that we have to improve."


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Source : 90min