Mikel Arteta blamed his misfiring stars for Arsenal’s north London derby defeat to Tottenham in the Premier League.
Goals from Son Heung-min and Harry Kane gave Jose Mourinho’s side a 2-0 victory on Sunday as Spurs provided a clinical edge that the Gunners missed.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was unable to register a single effort on goal while strike partner Alexandre Lacazette had just two.
This was despite Arsenal enjoying more possession – 69.2 per cent to Tottenham’s 30.8 per cent – and delivering their most crosses (32) in open play since February 2016.
READ ALSO: Harry Kane reacts to Tottenham’s defensive performance
It has been a season of struggle for Aubameyang and Lacazette, who have managed a paltry five Premier League goals between them.
By way of comparison Kane and Son have 18 goals and 13 assists together and both got their names on the scoresheet again.
“You look at all the stats, they’re in our favour, but at the end of the day it’s about putting the ball in the net,” Arteta told a media conference afterwards.
“We had the chances. We had generated probably more than ever this season, put the ball in the box more than ever, had the numbers there.
“But at the end of the day we have to score the goals, and when they had a half chance they scored, and at the moment we haven’t. To build something, you need results.
“I take a lot of positives for the way we played, when we come here in this moment and play with the personality, the courage, the passion, the energy and the belief the boys showed.
“At the end it’s a football match and you have to win it, and we lost again today.”
When asked how Arsenal, who are now 15th in the table and 11 points behind table-topping Spurs, might turn around their results, Arteta went back to the same theme.
“By scoring goals, very simple,” he said. “We need to score goals. If not, it’s unsustainable. It doesn’t matter what we do in other departments of the pitch, if we don’t score goals we can’t do nothing.
“A cross doesn’t mean just an aerial cross. There were a lot of good parts where we penetrated the penalty box on numerous occasions.
“Just to find the last pass or the final ball and the goal came through, we didn’t hit it, they blocked it – it was a lot of things to happen.
“If we generate it every week we will win football matches. At the moment it looks like we need to do a lot to score a goal. We need to put the ball in the net, urgently.”
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