Arteta insists Saliba red card was game-changer as Bournemouth stun Arsenal - Paul Vegas

When asked about the impact of the dismissal on the game, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta expressed his disappointment with the result, stating that it had a significant effect on the match. He described the task of playing with 10 men for the majority of the game as "impossible" at this level, making it even more challenging than previous encounters this season. Arteta emphasized the difficulty of facing such circumstances and acknowledged the team's disappointment and frustration with the outcome.

"It’s an accident waiting to happen not to get the points. I cannot fault the team for their effort, their commitment, to play in the way we had to do it. There was a big moment at 0-0 when we have a one-vs-one with the ‘keeper and we don’t manage to score. Then in the other end we do that.

We have to (look at) ourselves. Tonight we made two big errors that cost us the game unfortunately.

"It was a decision made on the pitch. That decision was changed. I don’t think it will change twice. The decision has been made.

"What happens today is almost unpredictable – that the winger is going to play the ball to the centre back one touch, and it’s going to be a challenge there with 40 or 35 meters to go.. Very difficult to plan it. But certainly we need to play with 11vs11 if we want to be in the position that we want to be."

Arteta added, "Willy has never done anything like this and he doesn’t do it on purpose. Or what happened with the second goal. But it happened. Unfortunately we couldn’t turn it around which is very unlikely that often for the third time in the season.

"We got away with it twice – the situation was a bit different because we were already ahead in the result. But we have to accept it. Move on and have that pain for Tuesday (in the Champions League). That’s it."