Aaron Ramsdale urges Arsenal to 'move on' from Man City loss
By Sean Walsh
Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has admitted that while the Gunners' late defeat to Manchester City was hard to take, he and his teammates must 'move on' from the controversial loss.
Despite manager Mikel Arteta's Covid-induced absence, Arsenal played out of their skins against the Premier League leaders, going into half-time a goal to the good.
But things weren't as rosy after the interval. After a lengthy VAR check, Granit Xhaka was adjudged to have brought down Bernardo Silva in the box, allowing Riyad Mahrez to level proceedings from the penalty spot. Arsenal defender Gabriel picked up two foolish bookings a couple of minutes apart and Rodri notched in City's winner in stoppage time.
Ramsdale, who was largely a spectator despite City's one-man dominance in the second half, said the loss was a real sucker punch, but urged Arsenal to get up and go again ahead of their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg with Liverpool.
“Yeah, it’s a tough one to swallow, we played so well, defended so well with 10 men, unlucky ricochet really and it falls to them and gets poked in,” he said, via the Evening Standard.
“We’re deflated, but we’ve got to swallow it and move on because that’s football and we’ve got an important semi-final first leg coming up on Thursday.
“I don’t think many teams have done that against Man City for a while, what we did in the first half. We dominated I thought and then like you say, five minutes, penalty, red card [for Gabriel], it changed the game.
“But even then down to 10 men I thought we defended really well and a little unlucky ricochet turns the game on its head.
“Not too many teams have dominated Man City like that in the first half. We played really well in the second half and we need to try and get over the line in one of these big games.
“But at the start of the season when it’s 4-0, 5-0, Liverpool, City, today’s a massive step in the right [direction].
“Like I said, we need to win one of these games, but ultimately we know we’re not challenging with these guys at the moment. But on today’s basis, if we can put that in week in, week out, we can be.”