Mikel Arteta sets Arsenal challenge against Newcastle in response to West Ham defeat
- Arsenal were dumped out of the Carabao Cup at the hands of West Ham
- Arteta expects a significant reaction against Newcastle on Saturday
- Gunners sit two points behind Premier League leaders Tottenham
By Tom Gott
Mikel Arteta has warned his Arsenal players that they cannot afford to let standards slip anymore this season, admitting the club are not over the "pain" of their 3-1 defeat to West Ham United in midweek.
Arteta made a handful of changes to his starting lineup but was left stunned as West Ham dumped Arsenal out of the Carabao Cup with a comfortable victory, with Martin Odegaard's late strike little more than a consolation.
In search of a response, Arteta will take Arsenal to St James' Park on Saturday for a meeting with high-flying Newcastle, and the boss warned his players that anything less than 100% will not be good enough.
"[The pain of defeat] is still always there," the Spaniard told a press conference. "Any time you have a defeat it takes a few days to get over but the full focus is on Newcastle now.
"There are things we have to do much better in the game, especially the way we conceded the goals, but I don’t think the scoreline reflects what happened in the game at all. But we should have done much better.
"If you take your foot off the gas in any action in this league you get punished. It’s as simple as that. If you keep at the maximum level you will keep winning and winning."
Asked whether he had any concerns about standards slipping against West Ham, Arteta stressed: "They dropped in one phase in the second half. When that happens you have to compete in a different way and try to recover the momentum in the game. We didn’t do that good enough. We know the standards and we know that the way we played, especially in the second half, wasn’t good enough."
Saturday's opponents sit sixth in the Premier League, having firmly re-established themselves as genuine threats in English football, and Arteta warned his side they cannot take Newcastle lightly.
"A big [test]," he said. "It’s one of the toughest places to go and win but we’ve done it. There is nothing new to it.
"We know what we expect and it’s very clear what their strengths are and what our opportunities are to take the game where we want."
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