‘It cannot get any worse’: Mikel Arteta says two Tottenham players punished Arsenal

‘Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur duo Son Heung-min and James Maddison punished his side in the North London derby.

The Gunners were held to a 2-2 draw by their fierce rivals on Sunday. Arsenal looked nothing like their usual selves, and to make things worse, they gifted two goals to Tottenham.

Son and Maddison took full advantage of those errors.
Mikel Arteta says Tottenham’s Son Heung-min and James Maddison punished Arsenal

Arsenal went into the game against Tottenham as the absolute favourites on Sunday.

The Gunners are the more settled side and have better players, but for one reason or another, they looked awful after the first half-hour.

After Cristian Romero’s own goal put Arsenal ahead, Bukayo Saka’s error allowed James Maddison to turn him and then find Son Heung-min in the box, who finished brilliantly.

In the second half, after Saka gave the Gunners the lead again, Jorginho made a mistake that allowed Maddison to find Son, who calmly converted his chance.

Mikel Arteta was asked about this in his press conference yesterday, and he claimed that there’s nothing worse than making a mistake that gives the ball to Maddison and Son.

He said, as per Arsenal.com: “Mistakes and errors are a part of football, it’s inevitable and it happens. Sometimes you have to be lucky when you made it, so that the opponent doesn’t punish you. It wasn’t the case.

“Obviously, when the ball lands to Maddison and they have Son in front of the ball, it cannot get any worse than that.”

Arsenal only have themselves to blame for not winning the derby on Sunday.

Yes, Tottenham played well, but if the Gunners had taken the chances that fell to Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus, the result would’ve been completely different.

As frustrating as the derby was, Arsenal have no time to sulk. They have a Carabao Cup clash against Brentford tonight, and they have plenty of players missing through injuries.

It will be interesting to see the side Arteta will name this evening.