Mikel Arteta’s disillusionment after the failure in the semi-finals

That he is already far away on August 29, 2020 and this Arsenal victory in the Community Shield against Liverpool. The season had started perfectly for the Gunners with this trophy gleaned on penalties against the Reds. But just over eight months later, smiles have faded from the faces of London club supporters. Again in the Europa League with a semi-final against Villarreal, Mikel Arteta’s team took the door this Thursday evening. Beaten 2-1 in the first leg in Spain, Alexandre Lacazette and his teammates failed to score this small goal at the Emirates Stadium (0-0), synonymous with qualification for the final which will therefore oppose Villarreal to Manchester United , who eliminated AS Roma.

A huge disillusionment for Arsenal and their coach Mikel Arteta, disillusioned at the microphone of BT Sport : “We are devastated, really disappointed. We must congratulate Villarreal. We tried everything until the last minute. I think we deserved to win the game but it’s the details that define these games. (…) We had three big chances, they got nothing, but they passed. So many things have happened to us. ”

“We were probably a little tense”

Relaunched on the key moments of the meeting, the Spaniard returned in particular to the last minute injury of Granit Xhaka during the warm-up. “It completely changed our plan. We have prepared everything with Granit in this position. In the first half we struggled with the ball but that’s no excuse, continued the former midfielder. I think we were very imprecise with the ball. We were probably a little tense. We were much more dominant in the second half. ”

Eliminated from the Europa League at the gates of the final, currently ninth in the Premier League and beaten too early in the FA Cup and English League Cup: Arsenal are having a very difficult 2020/21 season. And now, we will have to whip in the league to grab a European place. “The only way (to qualify for Europe, editor’s note), is to go through the Premier League, so we know what awaits us ”, concluded Arteta. With five points behind Liverpool (7th and which has one game less), the task promises to be complicated with four more games to play for the Gunners.