Mikel Arteta urged his Arsenal team to make a ‘response’ after their potentially costly defeat to Aston Villa left Manchester City two points clear in the Premier League title race.

Mikel Arteta urges Arsenal to ‘respond’ to Aston Villa defeat as Manchester City take lead in title race

The Gunners would have been buoyed by Liverpool’s shock defeat to Crystal Palace earlier in the day but then slipped up themselves against Villa.

In an entertaining and end-to-end affair, Villa scored twice in the final ten minutes through Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins to dent Arsenal’s title charge and boost their own hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

The defeat leaves Arsenal second in the Premier League, level on points with Liverpool and two behind defending champions Manchester City, while Villa move three points ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham.

Arteta said: ‘Two very different performances. The first half was superb, one of the best halves we have played against a top team. It should have been three or four – or more.

‘We didn’t put that score line up and didn’t reflect that second half. We lacked momentum. We didn’t have the flow we had in the first half and then we conceded two very, very poor goals.

‘Credit to them, in the second half we were a bit unprecise with the ball, we weren’t able to do what we did in the first half. In the end we lost it so we have to congratulate them on the points.’

More to follow…

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