arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta has praised his players for their remarkable run of performances ahead of the international break, while admitting he was confused by a controversial penalty decision in Saturday’s 1-0 win against Hull.
Speaking on BBC Match of the Day after the final whistle, Arteta praised his team for maintaining their standards during a demanding run of games.
“Very happy with the performance and the win too. I think it’s time to praise my players,” he said.
“What they have done not only today but after the international break is remarkable for the parties.
“We had to wait and be patient in the last part of the game to make the difference and win the game,” he explained.
“We kept creating chances, the final pass was missing or the last shot was blocked.
“We said at half-time, if that’s the case, it would go to full-time, but it would come at some point.”
Despite being pleased with Arsenal’s attacking play, Arteta believes there is still room for improvement when it comes to conversion chances.
“We have great moments, we have to put the chances we are creating against the opponent on the scoreboard”, he added.
“That’s what we need to improve.”
Arsenal boss questions botched penalty decision
Arteta also addressed a controversial refereeing decision after Arsenal were denied a penalty following a VAR review.
Kai Havertz was brought down in the penalty area but was not given a penalty because the German was in an offside position.
Arteta was left uncertain about the explanation after an offside decision prevented Arsenal from being awarded the spot-kick.
“I don’t know. When they called the referee on the monitor I thought it was a penalty, but then I heard that the decision was made for an offside decision,” Arteta said.
“We don’t have clarity on that.”