Staff Reporter.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta apologised for his side’s performance in their surprise defeat at Crystal Palace and accepted it was not good enough for the north London club.
The visitors had gone into the game looking to move back into the top four and strengthen their hopes of Champions League football.
But they were second-best throughout at Selhurst Park as former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira, now in charge of the Eagles, got one over his former side in some style.
“It is time to accept the criticism, put your hand up and apologise because this performance was not good enough for this club, but then react,” Arteta said.
“From the beginning we were not at the races. When you come here you have to compete, you have to win duels and second balls and be aggressive and we were none of those.”
“When we had the big chances we didn’t score to give ourselves the best chance to get back in the game. First of all we need to put our hands up and get the criticism we deserve. Then we accept it, look ourselves in the mirror and look to the next game. This was not good enough.
“We have to face the challenge and the opportunity is in our hands. We have to be honest with ourselves and support each other.
On Tierney’s injury, Arteta admitted the situation did not look positive for the Scotland full-back. “He came back from international duty and he felt something wrong in his knee,” Arteta said. “We scanned it and there is some damage there.
“He’s seeing the specialist on Tuesday and hopefully we will know more but it’s not looking good.”
The Gunners would have moved above rivals Tottenham with victory or even a draw but fell behind early on through Jean-Philippe Mateta’s header following a free-kick.
Things got worse for the visitors a few minutes later when Jordan Ayew got away from two Arsenal defenders and bent a shot beyond Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal showed some improvement after the break and should have at least got one back as Martin Odegaard shot wide when unmarked inside the box, while Eddie Nketiah hit the woodwork.
Palace made sure of a hugely impressive win when Wilfried Zaha was brought down inside the box late on and the forward stepped up to convert the penalty.
The victory, Palace’s first at home in the league in 2022, moves them up to ninth while Arsenal remain fifth and outside the top four on goal difference, albeit with a game in hand.