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    Premier League News: Arteta says Arsenal had no “excuses” after losing to Hibs

    Mikel Arteta said Arsenal cannot use their pre-season physical condition as an excuse for a 2-1 friendly defeat to the Scots Hibernian.

    Martin Boyle and Daniel Mackay led the Scottish side 2-0 at Easter Road in Edinburgh before Nicolas Pepe missed a penalty for Arsenal.

    Emile Smith Rowe pulled back a goal in the 82nd minute but Arsenal failed to find a draw, meaning their hopes of making a quick start before the new season took a hit.

    Asked if the lack of training could explain the defeat, Arteta replied: “Yes, but there is no excuse why we want to come here and win the game.

    “They worked very hard, the guys worked really hard and you could see some of them weren’t in the best shape, but we are still very early in the preseason. It was great to see some of the young guys making their debut here. We will continue to work ».

    Arteta’s team finished eighth in the Premier League last season which means they have lost a spot in Europe for next season.

    It means a big blow to their revenue, but Arsenal could benefit from having midweek training rather than traveling, with Arteta still trying to impose his methods after a tough full first season in charge.

    He took his team to Scotland with the aim of not only getting physical tests behind them, but winning, along with training.

    “Well, I’m always disappointed when we lose a football match, but it’s the first match, we’ve played with a lot of kids and we’ve only had four training sessions,” said Arteta, quoted on the official Arsenal website.

    “We trained very hard and you could see that the players were a bit long-legged. I think we conceded the first goal, an accident, and the second was clearly offside. We created many, many chances but we didn’t score.

    “That’s what the preseason is for, to bring the things we didn’t do well into a training session and then improve.”

    Pepe’s missed penalty came as a surprise, with Arsenal having been adept from the spot in the 2020-21 season, converting all eight of his shots from the spot.

    Pepe scored two, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also scored two and Alexandre Lacazette scored four out of four last season.

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