Nigeria forward, Alex Iwobi, has revealed the reason behind Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday.
Iwobi opines that his teammates took their “foot of the gas” in the encounter at the Etihad.
The Gunners suffered their second 2-1 reversal in five days, throwing away a hard-won first-half lead earned for them by Theo Walcott’s early strike.
Arsenal had looked robust in defence and dangerous on the break in the early exchanges but Leroy Sane’s goal soon after the interval spooked the visitors, who conceded a second on 71 minutes when Raheem Sterling’s low strike beat Petr Cech at his near post.
Having been full of menace in the first half Arsenal were unable to mount anything resembling a fightback after going behind, with Iwobi admitting to reporters: “I guess you could say we took our foot off the gas.
“Man City took advantage very well in the second half. We were up against a tough side today, we were just unfortunate to not keep the win.
“We started off very well but we weren’t able to keep it up in the second half and we were very unfortunate.”
Arsenal had gone 14 league games unbeaten prior to the start of last week and could have moved briefly to the top of the table had they beaten Everton on Tuesday but as would happen again on Sunday they threw away a good start and 1-0 lead, conceding twice to headers form their hosts’ defenders.
It leaves Arsene Wenger’s side nine points off Chelsea going into the festive period, where Iwobi believes Arsenal must rediscover the form that carried them through the autumn.
“We just have to continue the way we were playing at the start of the season,” he said.
“We just have to get that back and kick on now and prepare well for the next game.”
