Coach Arteta criticizes Arsenal defense

"It's clear that Arsenal need to improve a lot if they want to keep winning," Arteta told BT Sport after the game at Estadio Jose Alvalade. "In Europe, it's very difficult to get a positive result if you lose two easy goals away like this. We lose the ball too easily in many situations and Arsenal need to defend better in the box." .

As a guest in Portugal, Arsenal took the lead thanks to a header from centre-back William Saliba. But their advantage did not last long when Goncalo Inacio equalized for Sporting also in a corner. Goalkeeper Matt Turner was criticized for not taking the initiative to come to the rescue.

Paulinho then put Sporting ahead at the start of the second half, with a close-in kick despite being followed by two Arsenal players. Arteta's team then escaped defeat thanks to a lucky goal from Granit Xhaka. From his shot outside the penalty area, the ball hit Hidemasa Morita and changed direction, leaving goalkeeper Antonio Adan unable to react.

"I don't know if this result is lucky. But Arsenal were lucky on the second goal. Gabriel Martinelli had a chance and so did Fabi Vieira. But the truth is Sporting had a good chance to make it up. 3-1," Arteta said.

The Spanish leader let many pillars rest, but still kept Bukayo Saka, Granit Xhaka or Gabriel Martinelli in the starting lineup for this match. He warned his students that they need to prepare mentally and physically to compete more in the late season.

"This club has to play every three days. Each player needs to be healthy and ready for that," Arteta said. "If they can't do that, they don't have to wear the Arsenal shirt. The team lost a bit of cohesion when they changed six positions and a lot of players had to play against their strengths. But we had to adapt because many players were injured and The team has no strikers."

Arsenal will be Fulham's guest in round 27 of the English Premier League, on Sunday, March 12.