Arsenal were ‘yard off the pace’ but will not give up title hope, insists Ramsdale

Aaron Ramsdale admits Arsenal were off the pace during their loss to title rivals Manchester City but is backing the club to reach a similar level to the Premier League champions’ in years to come.

Arsenal succumbed to a 4-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium and are two points ahead of City, having played two games more. The goalkeeper admitted his side were too slow to react in the opening exchanges. “It’s the first time I’ve played here as an Arsenal player and just for the first 45 minutes we were a yard off the pace in pressing,” he said. “If you want to come here and get anything you need to be on it in everything and we were just a bit off.”

Ramsdale remains defiant about Arsenal’s chances for the rest of the season and the foreseeable future. “They have been one of the best teams in the league for the past five years,” he said of City. “They could potentially do a treble. We want to get to the same sort of level as Man City doing it our own way and be competing for all competitions like they are.

“We haven’t played nine months of Premier League football and played the way we wanted to play to give up with five games to go. If anything is going to happen in football it is going to be this league it is going to happen in. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’ll get over it and the manager will do what the manager does and dissect it and tell us and we will do everything we can.”

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Ramsdale made several saves to keep the score down but was disappointed not to prevent Erling Haaland’s goal in second-half stoppage time. “It was probably the goal I am most annoyed about which I should save,” he said.