Arteta believes he is responsible for the North Londoners’ stunning defeat to Dean Smith’s men.
After successive wins against Manchester United and Molde Fk last week, the Gunners were hoping to continue in similar fashion against the Villans but Bukayo Saka’s first half own goal and Ollie Watkins’ late second-half brace were enough to hand Arteta’s men their fourth defeat in the Premier League this season.
Speaking to the media after the game, Arteta congratulated Aston Villa for their big win in North London and was quick to take the blame for his side’s disjointed and abject performance.
"Well first congratulations to Aston Villa for the victory and the way they played, I thought they were strong and obviously from our side I take total responsibility because it's not acceptable the performance we put in from the beginning,” the Spanish coach said.
"I'll keep what I said to my players in the dressing room private, my role is to get the team performing at the highest level every three days and today we haven't done that and since I got appointed it's the first time I haven't seen that team on the pitch.
"This is football and when you are not at the races and not at your best teams destroy you in the Premier League. It's a really bad combination if you don't win the duels, you are late and they are more focused, they are more determined for every ball. If you don't defend your box well enough and you have chances but you don't put them away.
"No we are not creating enough chances but the ones we did create were clear enough to score at least one goal but if you look at the numbers from last few games it's not enough.
