Nuno’s verdict on Arsenal

Nuno Espirito Santo spoke honestly after a tough afternoon for us at the Emirates on Sunday.

Arsenal ran out 3-1 winners in the derby after storming into a 3-0 lead by half-time, all three goals came from transitions, the second and third the full length of the pitch.

Nuno made changes at half-time - Oliver Skipp and Emerson Royal on for Dele and Japhet Tanganga - and we did improve, but it was too little, too late. Bryan Gil impressed in a cameo off the bench and was involved in what turned out to be a consolation goal for Heung-Min Son on 79 minutes, and it would have been interesting if Aaron Ramsdale hadn’t managed to touch a deflected Lucas Moura shot onto the crossbar with five minutes left, but we could have few complaints in the final whistle.

Asked for his thoughts at 3-0 down at half-time, Nuno told us: “What I thought is that the game plan didn’t work. That’s what I thought. We were all disappointed at half-time.

“It’s not about blaming anything, it’s about realising what we have to do. The analysis comes now.

“We played better in the second half, but the game was lost. We started well (in the second half), one early goal could put us back in the match, but we didn’t achieve it. We had chances, a couple of moments, but the overall game wasn’t good at all. We’re disappointed for the fans, the fans back home... it’s a tough, tough day for us.”

That’s three defeats on the spin in the Premier League after such an impressive start and three wins out of three in August. How does Nuno turn it back around? “We have to recover the players mentally, physically, and we have to improve them,” he added. “Me, personally... we have to make better decisions. I’m being very honest with you. Today, was not the best.”