Mikel Arteta says Arsenal did not win enough duels in 3-0 Crystal Palace loss

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Arsenal dropped points in the race for the Champions League spots with a 3-0 loss at Crystal Palace last night.

The Gunners have their European destiny in their own hands but did not turn up at Selhurst Park and were roundly beaten.

Mikel Arteta shared with his post-match press conference what he said to the players before the game about winning enough duels to win the game.

He said they didn’t do that on a night which will give Tottenham encouragement in the chase, after they beat Newcastle 5-1 the day before.

“No. I could not see it. We discussed it just before kick off, the way you win here is when you compete the way you should,” he said.

“That means you win duels, have presence and the composure on the pitch to manage certain situations.

“They are a really physical team and the pitch is not the best to do that so you have to find a way to do other things that usually you don’t have to do.

“We didn’t manage to do that.”

It was a bad night for Arsenal in terms of the result and the performance, there is no getting away from that.

It is important that there is no panic from the players or fans right now. It has been a good season so far and they have it within their gift to finish the job.

There will be thrills and spills and none of the other top four contenders – and even to a certain extent Chelsea – can be trusted to get six or seven wins to close out the season.

Arsenal need to keep their nerve, get back to winning the games they should be winning and they will get into fourth. If there is panic and nervousness, then anything could happen.