Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his side did everything he had asked of it in a 2-0 defeat by north London rival Tottenham Hotspur but described its lack of goals as “unsustainable”.
His side enjoyed almost 70% possession, but superb goals by Son Heung-min and Harry Kane sealed victory for Jose Mourinho's Tottenham side, taking it back to the top of the table.
Arsenal is languishing in 15th place after its worst-ever start to a Premier League campaign. “In terms of the performance, they did everything I asked them to do. Absolutely everything,” Arteta, whose side has lost five of its last seven league games, told reporters.
“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 box.
“The first situation they had from 30 yards they put it in the top corner. You have to applaud it.”
Despite having so much of the ball in Tottenham's half, Arsenal rarely got through a disciplined home defence which looked comfortable and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette look a shadow of their former selves.
Aubameyang has only two league goals this season while Lacazette has three, but only one since Sept. 28.
Arsenal has scored only 10 goals in 11 games. To put that into perspective Son and Kane have 18 between them already.
“They tried to generate a situation, 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,” Arteta 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 anything. We need to put the ball in the net, urgently.”
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