Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has insisted that his side can have "no complaints" about being held to a draw by Southampton in Sunday's Premier League clash.
The Gunners have traditionally struggled to get the better of the South-Coast club at St Mary's and were forced to accept a point in a 1-1 stalemate.
The Premier League leaders started on the front foot at St Mary's, and three days after scoring his first right-footed goal for the club, Granit Xhaka got his second as he met Ben White's low cross to crash home.
However, Arsenal could not build on their early dominance and soon faded away in the second half, with Southampton eventually taking advantage through Stuart Armstrong.
Arsenal remain at the top of the Premier League table, but their lead over Manchester City has been cut down to two points, and Arteta has lamented his side's inability to kill the game off.
© Reuters
"No complaints. This is football. We were really good in the first half and totally controlled the game. We created loads of big chances that we didn't put away," football.london quotes Arteta as saying after the game.
"In the Premier League, unfortunately, if you don't do that when you are top of the game, you can have some difficulties. In the second half, we put ourselves in problems with the amount of giveaways that we had, especially with ball possession, and that didn't allow us to control the game the way we wanted.
"I think we stopped doing all the simple things right. The distances on the ball positions were too far, we gave too many simple balls away in very dangerous areas without much pressure, and that didn't allow us much continuity like we had in the first half.
"Then you are more tired because the game becomes more open and there are more transitions, and you are fatigued. I think again we finished the game on top of them and we tried to go for the second goal, but we didn't find a way to do it."
Arsenal felt aggrieved by a number of calls from referee Rob Jones, who controversially booked Bukayo Saka for simulation in the first half and did not see much wrong with Duje Caleta-Car's efforts to stay tight to Gabriel Jesus, who was brought to the ground on a number of occasions.
© Reuters
Arteta did not want to make any statements about the officiating, but he was intrigued to see stills from the incidents during the game, adding: "I don't know. I don't want to comment on that. I want to see the images before I do that."
Jesus in particular endured a frustrating afternoon on the South Coast, missing a gilt-edged chance against Gavin Bazunu in the second half as his goal drought stretched to five games in all competitions.
Nevertheless, Arteta is not losing sleep over the 25-year-old's sticky patch, pointing out Jesus's ability to always put himself in positions to score, saying: "I'm sure today he will be disappointed because he had the chances to put them away.
"Knowing Gabi, he's disappointed when he scores two goals and could have scored three or four, so he can do that. But he has the chances, and he's always there. He gives so much to the team, and it's a shame he couldn't put them away today."
Arsenal will attempt to return to winning ways when they meet PSV Eindhoven in Thursday's Europa League clash at the Philips Stadion before resuming Premier League duties against Nottingham Forest next Sunday afternoon.
No Data Analysis info
