Mikel Arteta Reacts to Grant Xhaka Red Card Following Catastrophic Defeat

The pressure on Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta only grew on Sunday as his side stumbled to a 1-0 loss to Burnley at the Emirates Stadium.

An own goal from out-of-form striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was enough to steer Arsenal to their fourth consecutive home league defeat for the first time since 1959, and a red card for Granit Xhaka, who was caught raising his hand to the throat of Ashley Westwood, only made things worse.

Here's what Arteta, who is now coming under fire amid his players questioning his methods, had to say after the game.

On Xhaka's Red Card

After winger Nicolas Pepe was sent off in November's 0-0 draw with Leeds United, Arteta described his behaviour as 'unacceptable', and he admitted that same term could be used to describe the Xhaka incident.

 “Same word and, in these conditions, even worse," he said (via The Times). "In a football match you cannot do that. It is unacceptable because the players had a moment where they are so willing to do more, to fight more, to show how committed they are.

“On this occasion, Granit has overstepped the line and another action with Mo [Elneny] I haven’t seen, which looks similar. We cannot make that mistake because it is the wrong approach.

“We threw the game away over a silly red card and we lost. You saw what happened the other 60, 70 minutes; we had total control and should have won it earlier.”

On Players Panicking Over Poor Form

"No, I wouldn’t say it’s panicking," he added (via football.london). "Again it’s my opinion it’s how much because I can see it in training again and the way they try and the way they try and the energy that they put in. It’s the same today.

"A team that is struggling normally you don’t see them play the way we were playing today again, and the way they played against Spurs, the leaders. Again we lost the game we gave the opponent a chance and they scored and this is about winning football matches."

On Picking Underperforming Players

The likes of struggling duo Willian and Alexandre Lacazette continue to feature in Premier League games for Arsenal, while youngsters like Emile Smith-Rowe and Falorin Balogun, who have both impressed in the Europa League, remain on the sidelines.

"Well, we have shaken things up a lot in other games, sometimes that has worked, in others it hasn’t. We tried to pick a team that gives us the best possibility to win the game," Arteta noted.

"I don’t know [whether youngsters are getting enough minutes]. We tried to play... again actually the same thing, the players that in my opinion are going to give us the best chance to perform and we have players on the bench that can do that.

"Some of the ones that you mentioned, they’ve been with us for a really short time, because of injuries and other different situations."

On Bouncing Back on Wednesday

"Absolutely I prefer to play in 72 hours. The players are hurting. Thank you so much as well the fans because I think they were tremendous and behind the team with the support that they were giving and knowing how difficult it’s been for all of us in this competition in recent weeks.

"But I think they realised that because they see the team how they try how they go about it, how much passion they put into the game without limitations, but it’s at least what you can have to do."

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