Antonio’s verdict on Arsenal: “In this type of game, you have to be clinical”

Antonio Conte directed his disappointment to the first half of our 3-1 loss at the Emirates on Saturday.

The home side were on top in the early stages and went in front via Thomas Partey’s 20-yarder on 19 minutes. We recovered well, slowly started to push forward and had created chances by the time Richarlison was tripped by Gabriel for Harry Kane to fire home the equaliser from the penalty spot on the half-hour – in doing so, he became the record goalscorer in London derbies (44) and the first player to score 100 away goals in the Premier League.

We looked dangerous on the break after that but couldn’t get in front - Kane’s header saved by Aaron Ramsdale - and then conceded two minutes into the second half when Gabriel Jesus bundled home the loose ball after Hugo Lloris parried Bukayo Saka’s shot.

We were left with a mountain climb when Emerson Royal was shown a straight red for a challenge on Gabriel Martinelli on 62 minutes, quickly followed by Arsenal’s third goal, drilled home by Granit Xhaka.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY at the Emirates, Antonio said: “It’s a difficult day because in the first half, we felt the possibility to win the game. We had the possibility to kill the game in the first half and you have to know very well in this type of game, you have to be clinical.

“I repeat, if I have to complain about something, it’s the first half. I think we had many chances and we made mistakes in the last passes, big mistakes. We must be disappointed for this reason.

“Every time we played the ball and overcame their pressure, we could hurt them. Instead, we kept them alive, then in the second half we conceded the second goal. We could do much better but, you know very well, when you concede a goal, you can always do something better. Then, after a few minutes, the red card killed the game.”

There is little time to reflect on this defeat, though, as we step back into UEFA Champions League action against Eintracht Frankfurt at Deutsche Bank Park on Tuesday evening (8pm UK).

“Now we have to play every three days, and we have to move on,” added Antonio. “We have to try to not have more injuries, because today, Kulusevski was out, Moura, I’m worried about, he’s far from recovering. It’s also important to recover Ben Davies.

“We are trying to do our best, we’ll continue to do this and now we have to move on quickly because on Tuesday, we have an important game. We have to take some positivity from this game and understand that we have to continue to work to improve.”