“Today I love them much better than the week before” – Arteta explains why he is ‘proud’ of Arsenal players despite defeat

Arsenal suffered their second Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday (February 4), losing 1-0 at Goodison Park to Everton.

Manager Mikel Arteta, though, is not too critical of his players. Speaking to the media after the game, the Spanish manager said (via Sports Mole):

"Today I love them much better than the week before or a month ago. It is easy to be next to someone when they are winning well. I am still so proud of all of these players, they deserve it. This is not going to be a rose pathway. This is going to be tricky, and we will have to dig in and play much better than we did today."

James Tarkowski scored the only goal of the game in the 60th minute. The game was also Sean Dyche's first in charge since taking over at Everton.

We move forward - together ❤️ https://t.co/wPLMjZg12X

Despite their defeat, Arsenal remain atop the Premier League with 50 points in 20 games, leading second-placed Manchester City by five points.

Defeat. https://t.co/790nNhDWfC

The three points, though, were certainly a massive boost for relegation-threatened Everton. The Toffees are now 18th in the league with 18 points from 21 games.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta analyses reasons for Everton defeat

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While Mikel Arteta was gracious in defeat, the Arsenal manager pointed out the factors that led to his team's loss.

Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Arteta rued his team's lack of clinicality in the final third and struggles against Everton's phyiscality (via Express):

"We had loads of the ball, but we lacked that purpose and quality in the final third, we generated many chances, But then we conceded, and they slowed the game down, and we struggled. They do this to every team that is their strength with the height; the physicality is their strength; if you want to control the game against them, you have to control this. We did not do that today."

The Gunners will host Brentford in the Premier League next Saturday (February 11).