Mikel Arteta is finding things to like about Arsenal’s growth even when the Gunners struggle over 90 minutes.
Arsenal failed to build on its big North London derby win last weekend in a 0-0 draw at Brighton and Hove Albion, and the Gunners were undoubtedly second-best to the upstart hosts.
In fact, Arteta said he doesn’t even feel like his side dropped points because he thinks they were pretty fortunate to get what they got out of the Amex.
[ MORE: Three things we learned from Brighton vs Arsenal ]
“I think a point gained because I don’t think we deserved anything more than that… if we did deserve,” Arteta said, via Football.London. “We never felt in control of the game. We struggled to break the press.”
That they did, and pretty much everything short of defending was a problem for the Gunners.
Brighton led in possession and took a huge victory in shots, but both teams limited much from troubling goalkeepers Robert Sanchez and Aaron Ramsdale.
Here’s what the keeper had to say on Saturday:
“Personally and collectively the performance needs to be better especially with where we want to get to,” Ramsdale said after the Gunners ran their unbeaten streak to four. “It’s another point and been a good month so we keep looking up now. … It is three clean sheets out of four games, it’s not all doom and gloom. We have had a tough start, and no one is hiding from that. We have turned the corner with four good results, you can see a structure of a team and one that is gelling on the pitch.”
Patience is difficult, though, as Arteta acknowledged in discussing the growth of center backs Ben White, who was playing his former club, and partner Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Gabi’s still struggling a little bit with the language,” Arteta said. “They’ve gained a good connection, a good chemistry. Their qualities match each other really well. Both of them today were terrific.”
