Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta refused to blame the absence of some of his key players to the 2-0 loss against Brentford.

The Gunners suffered a 2-0 defeat to newcomers Brentford in the first game of the season.

Arteta handed was without the service of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Thomas Partey.

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The Spaniard who spoke on his post-match conference admitted that it was a disappointing night for them.

“We have to react, not find any excuses about players that weren’t here or our injured players, and look at ourselves and raise the level.

“Congratulations to Brentford. I don’t want to use any excuses.

“It’s a very disappointing night. 

“We needed to start in a very different way.

 “The performance in the two halves was different. 

“In the first half, we had periods where we weren’t ourselves. 

“We got in trouble pretty easily in different ways with the long balls and the second balls.”

Reacting on his team performance, Arteta analysed the performance and noted that they created more chances but could not make them count.

“We were very disappointed with that. We reacted in the second half after going 1-0 down, when the crowd was right behind them. 

“We created a lot of situations but not enough threat or shots on target to win a football match. 

“When you concede a goal on a long throw, it then becomes a big task.

“Congratulations to Brentford on what they did, on what they’ve done to be where they are and for the fantastic crowd that they have right behind the team.