Mikel Arteta admitted ‘something is missing’ in his Arsenal team as they blew a two-goal lead to draw against Aston Villa and plummet further ground behind leaders Liverpool in the title race.
The Gunners looked to be on course for victory after Kai Havertz doubled their lead eight minutes into the second half, following Gabriel Martinelli’s first-half strike.
But Villa staged a stunning comeback, halving the deficit through Youri Tielemans’ header on the hour mark before equalising eight minutes later with an Ollie Watkins volley.
The result leaves the Gunners six points behind Arne Slot’s men who also have a game in hand. The Reds overcame Brentford earlier in the day with two injury-time Darwin Nunez goals.
Arteta said: ‘In attack, in defending, the level we are playing is so, so, so high. But there is something missing and that line is so thin and we have to find it.
‘Today how we concede goals cannot be part of our game if we want to be up there. Today it was clear we conceded two goals.
Mikel Arteta admitted ‘something is missing’ in his Arsenal team as they blew a two-goal lead to draw against Aston Villa
Arteta lamented his side’s mistakes as the draw left them six points behind league leaders Liverpool
‘After everything done with discipline, commitment, resilience, quality, that line is so thin especially against them, we have been punished before and you cannot do it.’
On Liverpool’s late win, Arteta said: ‘There are moments — obviously they (Liverpool) managed to do that. They made the subs and the subs made the impact and they managed to change the game.
‘In our side it was the opposite, even after conceding the two goals very close to each other. The danger was that I knew half the team could go downhill because we were physically drained.
‘Suddenly the team found another gear to go again and just put Aston Villa in their box and go and try to find the goal that we haven’t been able to score at the end.’
Ollie Watkins scored late with a great strike the Emirates to take a point for Villa
Arsenal have now dropped 12 points from winning positions — the most since their 2019-20 campaign.
Havertz thought he had struck the winner with a minute left in normal time, but the goal was disallowed by the VAR after replays showed the ball struck his arm off Mikel Merino’s shot.
On Havertz’s disallowed goal, goalscorer Watkins said: ‘Seeing it back there (on the screen) I am not sure. I think it’s gone in favour for us.
‘If that was against me I think I would be disappointed. From that angle I’m not sure but that’s what VAR is there for.’
