ARTETA: THIS GAME WILL GIVE ME NIGHTMARES!

MIKeL ARTeTA admitted his ‘two-faced’ team are keeping him awake at night after they offered a blend of awful and exceptional football in their 3-3 draw at West ham. Arsenal were 3-0 down inside 32 minutes before staging a stunning recovery in the thriller at the London Stadium. however, Arteta has been left exasperated by his side’s fluctuating performances. ‘This game is going to give me a few nightmares because it is really difficult to stop some of the things we have been doing to hurt ourselves,’ he said. ‘I’m very disappointed because I cannot accept my team playing the way we did for certain periods in the first half. I expect the team to play to the level we showed afterwards — we should have scored six or seven. ‘We have two faces. The first face is about giving goals away and not doing what we have to do and it is not good enough. That keeps me awake.’ Citing the strikes from Jesse Lingard, Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek, the latter two after defensive errors, Arteta added: ‘The first goal (from Lingard) can happen. But the second and third goals were unacceptable. ‘Then we gave them one more and they hit the post (via Michail Antonio at 3-2). It is too much, then you have to score six every game. ‘For the rest of the game, the attitude, desire and togetherness we showed was good. At 3-0 down, it is difficult to do what we had to do — but I had no doubts because I see the energy in training every day. ‘But I am worried by the levels we can show within a game.’ This game was turned on its head by another excellent performance from Real Madrid loanee Martin Odegaard. Arteta said: ‘he has shown from week one, with the way he stepped on the pitch and wanted the ball, he is really influential. I’ve been surprised because he looks shy and humble, but on the pitch he is a real character.’

West ham lost momentum in their push for the top four, but David Moyes was measured in his assessment. he said: ‘We played really well for 30 minutes, maybe as well as we have played for a while. We were disappointed we didn’t take all three points, but we challenged until the end. ‘We played a good team in good form. We didn’t allow them to show it for most of the first half but in the second we struggled to hang in there. ‘We have made sure we keep going. We are keeping the dream alive. Ultimately we are coming away disappointed with a draw against Arsenal.’