Arteta bemoans "cold atmosphere" after Arsenal let top four advantage slip

Arsenal's hopes of Champions League football next season sustained a significant blow after they were beaten 2-1 at home by a Brighton side that had scored just one in seven before their visit to the Emirates.

Mikel Arteta bemoaned a "cold atmosphere" inside the Emirates that he feels was the fault of his own players. "We created a cold atmosphere, an atmosphere we weren't comfortable with. When we tried to change it, it was too late," the Spaniard explained. " The first half was really poor, the reaction that we wanted to show, we didn't make it happen on the pitch. We were sloppy on the ball."

The Gunners looked way off the pace from the first whistle, failing to create any kind of meaningful chance or enjoy a spell of intense pressure until it was far too late in the day. Leandro Trossard opened the scoring just shy of the 30 minute mark when he fired home from close range having found himself in acres of space inside the Arsenal penalty area.

A half chance fell to the feet of Emile Smith Rowe shortly after, but the England international failed to get a clean shot off and his effort was blocked by Lewis Dunk. There was drama on the stroke of half-time when Gabriel Martinelli thought he levelled things up, only to see his header chalked off following a lengthy VAR review.

Arteta looked furious after his side's effort was ruled out, but he was even more angry when Enock Mwepu doubled the Seagulls' advantage in the 66th minute. The Brighton midfielder fired home a delightful effort beyond the despairing dive of Aaron Ramsdale to spark jubilant scenes in the away end.

What is arguably a more bitter pill to swallow than the goal itself is the fact that it was well deserved. Brighton kept the limited Arsenal attacks they had to face by that point at bay and did not look at all troubled defending their lead.

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There was some slight hope offered to the home faithful late on when Martin Odegaard's long range strike deflected off of former Arsenal star Danny Welbeck and looped over the head of Brighton shot-stopper Robert Sanchez, but it proved to be too late in the day for the Gunners to inflict further damage on their visitors.

Eddie Nketiah's header stung the palms of Sanchez, but that was the final chance of a forgettable afternoon for Arsenal. The result now takes hopes of Champions League qualification out of the Gunners hands and puts fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the driving seat.

Antonio Conte's men now have the chance to put three points worth of daylight between themselves and their north London neighbours with a win at Aston Villa on Saturday evening. Arsenal have squandered what looked to be such a strong position just a mere matter of weeks ago.