Mikel Arteta makes worrying Arsenal admission in title race with Liverpool and Man City

Mikel Arteta told his Arsenal players that they didn't deserve any more than they got from Saturday's trip to Newcastle. The Gunners were well below their best at St James' Park and succumbed to a second defeat in three Premier League games.

The result means Arsenal has won just five of its 10 league matches all season, with the club averaging just 1.8 points per game having averaged 2.34 points per game last season.

Arteta's men mustered just one shot on target against Newcastle, and Arteta admitted his players had no answers to the home team's impressive performance. "We deserved to lose today," Arteta told Premier League Productions. "I thought we started really well and were really dominant. We didn't defend the box well enough. Credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.

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"Then the game changes and you start to play a different game. You have to adapt and we didn't do that well enough. I am very frustrated. We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly and we couldn't play the game that we wanted. We had two big chances - Mikel [Merino] had a big one, Declan [Rice] had a big one. We lacked answers."

Asked how Arsenal can bounce back from the loss, Arteta said: "We can say whatever we want. We will struggle to find the words today. We have to show it on the pitch on Wednesday night [against Inter Milan in the Champions League. You have to be at your best every time to give yourself a chance to win."

Meanwhile, Arsenal defender William Saliba was in self-critical mood after the defeat, admitting that he wasn't at his best — despite not appearing to be at fault for Alexander Isak's winning goal. Isak found space behind Saliba's defensive partner, Gabriel Magalhaes, to head the ball into the top corner from Anthony Gordon's cross.

"I think it's a good goal," Saliba said. "A really good cross and good finishing but we can always do better. Today they scored early and we were not able to equalise. We have to stick together. Last season we had one period like and we need to stay together and have the confidence to get out. We all believe we will come back.

"I have to be better than my last game. I was not so good. I have to be back at my good level. After I will be good we will better but I have to work to get back to my best level."