Mikel Arteta was left rueing letting our lead slip at Brentford as we had to share the points with the west Londoners after a 1-1 draw.
We had got ourselves in front through Noni Madueke’s goal just after the hour mark and seemed set to record a fifth win in succession, but Brentford’s famed long throw weapon came to the fore as Keane Lewis-Potter capitalised on Michael Kayode’s ability to equalise.
And the boss was disappointed that proved to be so costly in the end, as we couldn’t quite find a way to get back in front and become only the third side to leave the Gtech Community Stadium with a win.
Reflecting on the game, Mikel said: “It was a very tough match. We knew that it was very tough to dominate them for the whole game. They are really good at dragging you into the game that they want.
“We struggled the first 10-15 minutes, then we picked it up. In the second half I think we started dominating the game with the pace, the intent that we had, and the amount of situations that we generated, without really hitting the target often enough in my opinion and finishing too many chances. Then we scored the goal and the game was totally controlled.
“After that, you have to stay so disciplined, not to give fouls away. The clearances have to be, especially the balls in the channel, in the right way and the moment you don’t do that and you concede the set-piece, a long throw, you have to defend with your life.
“Then you have to maybe defend another set-piece and it’s very difficult to get out of that game. Then the game got stretched when they scored and either team could have won it. We could have won it with the chance of Gabi at the end and unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
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With a swift turnaround before we’re back in action in the FA Cup against Wigan Athletic on Sunday, Mikel wants to quickly regroup and reflect on what went well and what didn’t against the Bees.
The opportunity remains to fight on all four fronts heading into the season’s final months, and he is keen to learn from our mistakes as we strive for silverware before the campaign closes.
“We have to look at what we’ve done,” he added. “We know that we should have done things better, especially in the box. If you want to win, you’re going to have to defend the balls in and around because they don’t need anything.
“We keep going, we take the point. We’re going to have to learn and improve in certain areas for sure but we have another competition that we are very excited to play in.”
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