Spiky Mikel Arteta makes Chelsea vs Arsenal prediction straight after losing to Inter
Arsenal suffered their second defeat in a row by losing 1-0 away to Inter Milan in the Champions League, leaving Mikel Arteta furious with referee Istvan Kovacs
by Nathan Ridley · The MirrorArsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes that his side will beat Chelsea if they produce the same performance as in their bruising 1-0 defeat away to Inter Milan.
The Gunners lost their third game in six at the San Siro on Wednesday, as Hakan Calhanoglu's controversial penalty on the stroke of half-time made the difference. Arteta's side registered nearly double the amount of expected goals as Inter - including their penalty following Mikel Merino's handball - and fired off 20 shots to the hosts' seven in the Champions League clash.
But Arsenal have now lost two games in a row, having also fallen 1-0 to Newcastle United on Saturday in a blow to their Premier League title ambitions. On Sunday, the Gunners travel to Stamford Bridge for what's become a huge game.
Assessing the Inter defeat, Arteta praised his players' performance and sent a warning to Chelsea. "We should have scored a couple at least but the way the team played, that was us at least. Every decision in the box makes a difference," the Arsenal manager told TNT Sports.
"The way we played tonight, this team can go to Chelsea and win."
Arteta gave relatively short answers in his post-match interview, clearly irked by the penalty decision which went Inter's way and the appeal which Arsenal had seen turned down earlier in the first half. Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer was late to an aerial challenge and instead of punching the ball away, both of his fists hit Merino's head.
"I am very proud of my players, the level of domination we had," Arteta, who was shown a yellow card during the match, declared. "We were very harshly done by in the sense that is obvious. Both penalties.
"If you are going to give a penalty, the other one has to be because he punches him in the head. There is no deflection, nothing you can do in the box, so can he get away from it. If he is going to give that the other has to be 1,000 per cent a penalty."
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He went on to confirm that Merino, who came off at half-time in place of Gabriel Jesus, wasn't concussed after his clash with Sommer. "No, he was not concussed, yesterday he was not feeling great and I decided to take him off as I needed him 100 per cent, Arteta added.
Asked about striker Kai Havertz, who came off late on with blood pouring from his head, Arteta replied: "Kai had a big cut and hopefully he will be okay for the weekend."
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