Viktor Gyökeres has been heavily criticised by fans on social media after appearing to make an outlandish excuse following Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at home to Bournemouth.
On Saturday (April 11), Mikel Arteta’s side suffered their third loss in four matches, which gives Manchester City the chance to gain ground if they pick up points against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday (April 12).
Junior Kroupi’s 10th Premier League goal of the season opened the scoring after 17 minutes, before Arsenal were awarded a penalty after Ryan Christie handled the ball in the box.
In the 35th minute, Gyökeres stepped up and slammed the ball past Đorđe Petrović from 12 yards to draw the Premier League leaders level.
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Despite many expecting the Gunners to push on and win the game, it was Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth who stunned the Emirates when Alex Scott finished past David Raya to make it 2-1 and hand the south coast club their second successive away victory at Arsenal.
After the match, Arsenal head coach Arteta admitted his side were hurting.
“[It was] disappointing,” Arteta told TNT Sports. “It’s a big punch in the face and it’s about how we react now. They are a team who haven’t lost for 11 games for a reason – they did a lot right.
“We were far from efficient. The first chance they had to attack the box, it’s a deflection, a bad defensive action and it’s a goal. That’s something we have to recover from.
“In the second half, you expect a different game. We did a lot of strange things today.
“We have been very consistent. This can happen – this is football.”
However, it was Gyökeres’ post-match interview with BBC Match of the Day that got fans talking, with the forward making a rather lame excuse as to why the Gunners struggled.
“They’re good on the counter-attacks,” he said. “They have good players and made some good combinations. But we need to do better.
“We had some chances in the end. The pitch was a bit dry, which didn’t help.
“I’m very confident. We don’t need to get stuck too much on what happened today. We need to look forward and be positive.”
Fans quickly shared their thoughts on social media.
One said: “Pitch was a bit dry, he said… Bro doesn’t remember that it’s actually their own home.”
Another added: “How many more excuses for your failures? The pitch was watered at half-time. I was there, I saw it. Basically, you should say you were beaten by a better team on the day. That’s how you take a defeat with class, not excuse after excuse.”
A third commented: “Wow, I think a lot of Arteta’s coaching time is spent rehearsing excuses. He knows they were playing at home, right…?”
A fourth slammed: “These lot are beyond shameless…”
Arsenal return to action on Wednesday (April 15) when they face Sporting CP in the Champions League quarter-final second leg.
Topics: Arsenal, Viktor Gyokeres, Bournemouth, Premier League, Football
Luke Davies