Ben White was involved in a 'slightly' awkward post-match interview with Stockholm-based broadcaster Viaplay in the aftermath of Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Southampton.
The 25-year-old England international, who has certainly staked a claim to be involved in this winter's World Cup, was understandably frustrated with his side's performance at St Mary's on Sunday afternoon.
Arsenal dominated in large spells during the first-half and after a blistering start to proceedings, in-form midfielder Granit Xhaka opened the scoring after firing home from Ben White's cross.
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But despite a positive start, Mikel Arteta's side failed to build on their dominance and Stuart Armstrong's composed finish shortly after the hour mark earned Southampton a point.
Arsenal remain top of the Premier League, two points ahead of reigning champions Manchester City, but centre-back White appeared disheartened as he spoke to Viaplay Fotball after the full-time whistle.
You can see the post-match interview that has since gone viral below.
White begins: "I think the first half was really good. We created loads of chances and we should have scored more. We should have probably put the game to bed in the first half and we didn't."
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After being asked what happened in the second half, he replied: "There's loads of reasons. I think we performed the opposite to the way we did in the first half and that showed."
Viaplay's Norwegian reporter Jonas Bergh-Johnsen quickly moved on and asked White if he thought Arsenal were "sloppy" in the second-half, or whether the physicality of the match changed the course of the game.
White responded: "No. It was just sloppy from us. We know what we're going to be dealing with each game, and we know if we we do our best we're going to win those games but today we didn't do it."
Once again, the reporter brought up 'physicality' and it brought a short reply from White, who said "that's football" before suggesting Arsenal's players also do the same.
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Finally, after the interviewer asked if it's "important for you to not be bullied in matches like this", the England international played down the statement.
"Yeah. I don't think we were bullied," White said. "Yeah, I'm not really sure where we got bullied? Yeah, we obviously didn't deserve to win the game. So yeah, that's it."
As you can see from the footage above, the former Brighton and Leeds loanee didn't hang around for long.
After dropping points for only the second time this season, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was asked if he was frustrated by the result.
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“Yes, I am, especially with the chances that we created, the way we started and played the first half, the game should have been in a different position," he told Sky Sports.
“Credit as well to Southampton, the way they came out in the second half, we weren’t as clean and consistent on the ball as we were in the first half. We started to concede a lot of long throws, set plays, [things that] disrupt our game.
“Despite that, I think we created the two biggest chances again in the second half but it wasn’t enough to win the game, unfortunately."
He added: “We didn’t put the ball in the net. We had the big chances and the big situations to put them away and we didn’t. In the Premier League, one is never enough.
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“They had a shot and a goal but you still had in the second half that feeling they were putting us under pressure, we gave too many balls away, especially inside; unforced errors that never gave us the continuity we needed to win the game.”
Thoughts on White's interview?
Let us know in the comments.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@ViaplayFotballTopics: Arsenal, Ben White, Southampton, Premier League, Mikel Arteta
