Mikel Arteta claims he has never seen Takehiro Tomiyasu make the same error as the one which gifted Manchester City their opening goal against Arsenal on Wednesday evening.
Kevin De Bruyne capitalised on Tomiyasu’s under-hit backpass to put City in front in the first half at the Emirates Stadium, but Mikel Arteta’s side were level before the break through Bukayo Saka’s penalty.
City then stepped up a gear in the second half and goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland sealed a 3-1 win for Pep Guardiola’s side, who now sit top of the Premier League on goal difference.
‘It’s exceptionally difficult to play at the level they require you to play to have a chance to win,’ Arteta said after Arsenal’s defeat.
‘I thought in many moments we did and we had them, but if you give three goals the way we did and don’t put away the big chances we had, then the margin for error is almost zero. It’s a shame because we really had them.
‘I don’t know if it’s experience or bad luck. I’ve never seen Tomiyasu make that pass back in seven years and he did it today.
‘It’s part of it and they have the quality to punish you.’
When asked about how Tomiyasu was feeling after the game, Arteta said: ‘All the players are feeling down, especially because they knew that we could do much better today to get a very different result and we just gave them the game.’
Asked why the Japan international started ahead of Ben White for the match, Arteta replied: ‘The same argument as why he played against Liverpool here when we won.’
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