Mikel Arteta wants Arsenal to turn anger from loss to Bournemouth into positive in Paris

Published on May 4, 2025

LONDON — Mikel Arteta has challenged his squad to turn the frustration of losing to Bournemouth 1-2 into a positive when the gunners travel to France next week for Champions League semifinal second leg.
Preparations for Wednesday's second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final at Paris Saint-Germain hardly went to plan for Arsenal, who suffered another disappointing home result.
Second-half goals from Huijsen and Evanilson cancel out Declan Rice's opener as Cherries earn first win at Emirates Stadium on Saturday night.
"We really wanted to create a very different vibe, atmosphere, and energy to go to Paris. But we certainly created a lot of frustration, anger, disappointment, and it's the time now to show our courage, our resilience, and go there using everything that we're feeling right now to put an amazing performance there and win the game and be in the final, Arteta was quoted by Arsenal website.

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“That fire in your belly now has to be there, and it's time to step up in Paris and have an amazing match and win it.”
Speaking about the defeat against Bournemouth, which marked Arsenal's our fourth in the Premier League this season, Arteta said, “We're disappointed with the result, especially after the way we started."
“We scored the first goal, and after that we had four or five really big opportunities to kill the game, and we didn't take them. And on top of that, we defended the goals really poorly for both set-pieces and against any team in the Premier League, it's difficult. Especially against a team like Bournemouth, they are really good at that. They're going to punish you, and they did punish us."
A fourth defeat of the season for Arsenal means they are only three points clear of Manchester City, who are third.
Their advantage in second position may be reduced to two points by Sunday evening if Newcastle United win their match in hand at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday to go above Man City.