The Blues made a statement in the early season clash against their rivals to go top of the Premier League table and Arteta acknowledged the gulf of talents between the two teams.
Following their opening day defeat against Brentford, many posited that Thomas Tuchel’s men will be too difficult to handle for the Gunners and that was the case in North London.
It took the visitors only 15 minutes to break the deadlock through Romelu Lukaku, who was making his second debut for the club.
England right-back Reece James doubled Tuchel’s side’s advantage ten minutes before the break and that was enough to defeat Arsenal.
Speaking to the media after the game, Arteta admitted that Chelsea deserved to snatch the maximum points away from his men.
"To be fair I thought Chelsea were the better team, and deserved to win the match and they showed why they are the champions of the Champions League,” the Spanish coach told BBC Sports.
Arteta added: "It is difficult to decide that when you [do not] have nine big players. That is a big reason for the gap.
"I don't like too feel sorry for myself, it is the situation we are missing. I think everyone can see at the moment we don't have the squad that we want and it seems to be more difficult by the day. These young players are giving their maximum, it is their first or second time they are playing in the Premier League and they are playing against a top, top opponent."
It will not be getting any easier for Arsenal as they travel to face Manchester City in their next Premier League game on Saturday.
