Mikel Arteta insisted Arsenal’s fans are behind him - even though he and his men were booed off at half time and full time.
Goals from Romelu Lukaku and Reece James condemned the Gunners to their second defeat in their opening two games. It is 67 years since they lost their opening three but they face Manchester City next weekend.
Asked about the frustrated Emirates fans voicing their frustration, Arteta said: “No. I saw a lot of excitement from them at the beginning.
“They really tried to push the team. When you are 2-0 down at half time nobody is happy. We are fooling ourselves if we think they were.
“But in the second half they were behind them. Even the players were saying that they felt it. But in the end they were frustrated.
“We all want things to be in a different moment right now but the context that we are facing is extremely difficult. Again we need them more than ever now.”
Arsenal ’s £50million defender Ben White is understood to have contracted Covid and is among nine players unavailable to Arteta.
But Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned from illness to make it onto the pitch for the second half.
Arteta added: “It is difficult when you have nine big players missing. That is a big reason for the gap.
"I don't like to feel sorry for myself, it is the situation we are missing. I think everyone can see at the moment we don't have the squad that we want and it seems to be more difficult by the day.
“These young players are giving their maximum, it is their first or second time they are playing in the Premier League and they are playing against a top, top opponent.”
Arsenal have some respite from the league programme, when they take on Championship promotion hopefuls West Brom in the EFL Cup.
It’s then champions Manchester City at The Etihad as they look to finally kick start their league campaign.
Ahead of that daunting trip, the Spaniard opened up on how he will try and convince his wounded troops that they are ready to compete with Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side.
“We’ll try to give them confidence and the tools and belief that football changes really quickly. The league table is not going to be decided in August,” he continued.
“I don’t want to see anybody feeling sorry for themselves or for the team because that’s not going to help us.
“I want a team, a squad of individuals that wants to fight, that wants to face the challenge that is ahead of us because normally when you do that you get the reward. That’s what I'm going to try to do with them.”
