Arsenal defeats are hurting confidence – Arteta

Mikel Arteta conceded his Arsenal team are low on confidence after their slump continued with a 2-1 defeat at home to Wolves.

Pedro Neto and Daniel Podence scored first-half goals either side of Gabriel’s equaliser as Wolves claimed a deserved Premier League victory.

The visitors’ success came amid concern over the wellbeing of Raul Jimenez, their striker who left the field on a stretcher after a sickening clash of heads with David Luiz.

Arsenal’s tally of 13 points is their lowest return after 10 minutes of any league campaign since 1981-82, with their latest reverse marking the one-year anniversary of Unai Emery’s departure in inauspicious fashion.

“They had two shots on target in the first half and scored twice. The team showed a real resilience, togetherness and belief to try to win in the second half. We generated the chances but didn’t score,” Arteta told BBC Sport, with his side now down in 14th place.

“We need more goals to win football matches. We need to keep supporting the players. All players go through [tough] periods. We’re creating chances but struggling to score goals. That’s the difference between winning and losing.”

Arsenal have now lost three successive home games and won one of their past six games at all venues in the Premier League.

“When you lose matches the confidence goes down because they believe things can happen again,” Arteta said.

“You need to win after a defeat. We’ve been doing this in my time here. This is the first time since we’ve been here [that they’ve had a losing run].”

13 – Arsenal’s tally of 13 points is their lowest after their opening 10 matches of a league campaign since the 1981-82 season (12). Collapse. pic.twitter.com/QaZ6olTYXj

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 29, 2020

David Luiz was substituted at half-time, playing on for 40 minutes after the Jimenez incident.

Arteta insisted Arsenal followed concussion protocols correctly, explaining discomfort from a cut to his head was the reason for withdrawing the experienced Brazil defender.

“The doctor did all the tests and protocols to make sure the player was safe to continue,” Arteta said.

“David was just worried about his cut, he never lost consciousness. He couldn’t really head the ball, he was uncomfortable – nothing else – so we took him off.”