‘Not good enough’ – Ramsdale slams ‘really poor’ Arsenal performance

Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has slammed his team’s “really poor” performance in their 2-1 loss to Brighton on Saturday.

Graham Potter’s side were deserved winners as Arsenal suffered their third defeat in four, with the Gunners struggling to cope in the absence of the injured Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney.

The result leaves Arsenal in fifth, three points adrift of fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur, who boosted their Champions League hopes with a resounding 4-0 victory at Aston Villa.

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Speaking to the club website, Ramsdale lamented the “uphill battle” that Arsenal gave themselves by going 2-0 down, seemingly not having learnt from their sluggish start in Monday’s 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.

“It’s not good enough,” he said. “Two games on the spin where the first 45 minutes has got away from us. You make it an uphill battle against any team in the Premier League if you’re losing at half-time.

“We were not in the rhythm of the game, that’s unlike us, especially at home where we’ve normally started really well all season.

“It was a really poor performance and as I said we went to the end but that’s a given at any club, especially this club. When you give a team a step up in the Premier League it’s always hard to get back in the game.

“One-nil down is tough enough, two-nil down in the Premier League is even harder. So if we’d have got the first goal back even earlier we might have pushed and pushed but there was too much to do in the end.

“This was supposed to be the reaction game but it wasn’t. We’ve lost and not managed to pick up any points and next week is even bigger. I think we just need to go out there and be free and play our game, you know?