Arteta and Ramsdale urge Arsenal to bounce back quickly from defeat to Manchester City

Gunners lose 4-1 at Etihad Stadium to hand City control of the Premier League title race

Mikel Arteta admitted Arsenal were second best against Manchester City in the 4-1 Premier League defeat at the Etihad Stadium. AFP

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has told his players to "move on" quickly and not let Wednesday's defeat at Manchester City negatively affect the rest of the season.

The Premier League leaders were outclassed at the Etihad, falling to a Kevin de Bruyne-inspired 4-1 defeat, with the Belgian midfielder scoring twice and assisting John Stones for City's second goal. Erling Haaland set a new record for most goals in a 38-game Premier League season with his 39th of the campaign after Rob Holding had pulled one back for the Gunners.

Arsenal remain top of the table but their lead has now been cut to just two points while second-placed Manchester City have played two games fewer.

“We have to accept that the better team won," Arteta said. "They were much better than us, they were more efficient, especially in the first half. They competed for every ball, with a different intensity, purpose and determination.

“We lost too many of those duels and we ended up defending when we were in really good positions, defending in open places against those players which is the last thing that you want to do."

The defeat brought to an end Arsenal's 10-game unbeaten run, although their recent form has fallen short of the excellent standards the Gunners have set for much of the season. Successive draws after throwing away two-goal leads against Liverpool and West Ham were followed by salvaging a 3-3 draw with bottom side Southampton having trailed 3-1 until the final few minutes.

“We have to move on. We will be very silly if this affects us in the next few weeks, so this is a difficult one we have to accept the reality and then we have to move on," Arteta said. "We have to try to help the players and paint the reality of where we are. Today they played against a team that were the best at that level. It’s who can keep at that level, that is the question.”

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Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale echoed his manager's rallying cry and called on his teammates to keep pushing forward in pursuit of the title.

“The immediate reaction coming off the pitch is disappointment. We came here to win the game and we haven’t managed to do that," he said.

“We haven’t played nine months of Premier League football to be in this position to moan or give up – we’re not going to do that. If something is going to happen, it’s going to be in our league, so, we’ve got to be there to pounce if anything happens.

“Nothing changes for us; we’ll go through everything as we always do and learn from our mistakes, individually and collectively. Unfortunately tonight we haven’t been able to do what we came to achieve.”