Mikel Arteta makes admission about Arsenal fans who leave Emirates Stadium early following Newcastle defeat

Evening Standard

·8 gennaio 2025

Mikel Arteta makes admission about Arsenal fans who leave Emirates Stadium early following Newcastle defeat

Gunners have mountain to climb after 2-0 loss at home

Mikel Arteta admits it was “not good” to see swathes of Arsenal supporters leave the Emirates Stadium early during Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle.

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The Gunners now have a mountain to climb after a 2-0 loss at home against Eddie Howe’s side if they are to reach March’s final.

It followed another laboured performance in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Brighton, with a lack of firepower proving a real issue for Arsenal at times this season.

Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon scored the goals on what was a bitterly disappointing night for Arteta’s side.

While Arsenal dominated possession, they struggled for genuine openings. Gabriel Martinelli hit the post in the first-half before Kai Havertz squandered a brilliant chance after the break.

Arteta’s side had 23 shots on goal but only three of those were on target on a hugely frustrating evening in north London.

Towards the end of the game, it appeared as if hundreds of Arsenal fans had left while the hosts were pushing for what could have been a huge goal in the tie.

Arsenal have a mountain to climb in the Carabao Cup semi-finals

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Asked about supporters leaving the Emirates prematurely when conducting his post-match press conference, Arteta said: “That's their decision. We try our best and it's their decision to stay right behind the team or leave.

“I think I repeated a thousand times how important they are and how critical it is to maintain the level of energy and belief in the stadium to generate big moments at the end that we could have had and because we were very close to score [and make it] 2-1 and we would have needed that, but that wasn't the case and that's not good.”

Arsenal are back in action on Sunday when they host Manchester United in a huge FA Cup third-round clash.