Mikel Arteta Says Arsenal Players Are Fuming After Kepa Error Sparks Real Betis Defeat

Mikel Arteta said his Arsenal players were “fuming” after a sloppy 3-1 defeat to Real Betis in Dublin, a result built on a goalkeeping error from Kepa Arrizabalaga that the Premier League champions could not recover from. It was Arsenal’s first defeat of pre-season, and it arrived at a ground the club had chosen to build fitness rather than results, though Arteta made clear the manner of the loss still stung.

“Always upset when you lose a football match,” Arteta said. “Two very different halves, especially with the personnel we played today. The first half, we wanted two different things: play well and compete well. We did the first one quite well in a lot of moments. But the compete part, especially in and around our box, was not at our standards to win a football match against a good side.”

How the goals went in

Arsenal fell behind at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium when Kepa came out for a corner and failed to claim it, allowing Rodrigo Riquelme to score at the back post. Real Betis doubled their lead soon after when Nelson Deossa struck a powerful effort from long range. Christos Tzolis then swung in an inswinging corner that Piero Hincapie headed home to pull Arsenal back into the game, only for Pablo Fornals to restore the two-goal cushion following a misplaced pass by Kai Havertz.

Tzolis is one of the summer’s new arrivals, having signed from Club Brugge in a £34m deal, a Belgian Pro League record, as a direct replacement for Leandro Trossard. The Greece international had joined Norwich City as a teenager for £8.8m before his move to Belgium, and Dublin offered an early glimpse of the delivery from wide areas that convinced Arsenal to sign him.

“We have to have dominance,” Arteta said of the goals conceded. “The first goal, the action from the corner, we concede a sloppy goal. Then we gave two giveaways very close to our box as well. They were very efficient, two very good goals as well from their side.”

A dressing room reaction Arteta wanted

Asked directly about the mood inside the Arsenal camp after the final whistle, Arteta did not pretend the players had shrugged it off. “Very upset, given a hard time. They are fuming, but this is good. That’s what we need,” he said. “There are things to improve obviously, some positives to take from the game and then a bad result sometimes it’s good to create even more fire in the belly.”

He was careful to present the defeat as part of a broader process rather than a cause for panic. “It’s always good when you lose a match in pre-season, it creates a bit more fire in the belly,” Arteta said. “It’s better to give those goals away in a friendly match than an official match. It’s a balance between understanding where we are and the personnel we are playing, and the demands that are at the highest level.”

A midfield still waiting for reinforcements

With Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and others still to return following their involvement at the World Cup, Arteta again turned to a midfield trio of Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Kai Havertz, the same combination that had beaten Girona in Arsenal’s previous outing. Against Real Betis, the trio found the job considerably harder.

Lewis-Skelly had bright moments in possession, completing 70 of his 74 passes, but could not offer the same defensive cover that Rice, Martin Zubimendi or Bruno Guimaraes would provide. Arsenal have agreed a £75m fee with Newcastle for Guimaraes, and the Brazilian’s move is edging closer to completion. The struggles in central midfield in Dublin illustrated exactly why the club pursued him so aggressively over the summer.

Asked about Guimaraes’ impending arrival after the match, Arteta gave little away, choosing to focus his public comments on the performance rather than the incoming signing. Arsenal made seven changes at half-time, introducing Brazil internationals Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli for their first minutes of pre-season, but the fresh legs were unable to find a way back into the game.

Kepa’s pressure point

The goalkeeping error fell to Kepa Arrizabalaga, who started ahead of David Raya as Arteta rotated his goalkeepers through pre-season. Kepa joined Arsenal from Chelsea as competition and cover for David Raya, and moments like the missed corner in Dublin will do little to ease the scrutiny that comes with deputising for a Premier League title-winning number one. Illan Meslier, on for the second half, made a smart save to deny Isco a close-range finish as Arsenal’s back-up goalkeepers shared the workload across the 90 minutes.

What comes next

The defeat leaves Arsenal with two further pre-season fixtures before the season proper begins. They host Borussia Dortmund at the Emirates on August 9 and Como on August 12, before facing Manchester City in the Community Shield at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on August 16, a repeat of last season’s title race between the two clubs.

Arteta’s message after Dublin was consistent with how he has treated pre-season results throughout his time at the club: they carry far less significance than what they reveal about a squad’s habits under pressure. Pre-season results count for little in isolation, and Arsenal had treated the Dublin trip as primarily a fitness-building exercise for a squad still missing several key players.

Even so, the uncharacteristic openness at the back, and the two sloppy goals conceded in quick succession, gave Arteta plenty to address before Arsenal open the defence of their Premier League title. With Guimaraes’ arrival edging closer and more World Cup players due back into training over the coming fortnight, the head coach will hope Dublin proves to be exactly the kind of jolt he described rather than a sign of deeper issues to come.

A summer of reinforcement, not reinvention

Dublin came the same week Arsenal saw one transfer chase end without success. Real Madrid confirmed Vinicius Junior is set to extend his contract at the Bernabeu after positive talks with the club, closing off the Gunners’ hopes of a marquee attacking addition this summer. It leaves Guimaraes as the clearest remaining priority in a window that has otherwise focused on incremental reinforcement, with Tzolis brought in for width and depth rather than a statement outfield signing to rival last year’s champions.

Arsenal’s approach this summer has leaned on selling fringe players to help fund incoming deals, with Christian Norgaard moving to Everton for £7m after making just seven Premier League appearances for the club. That kind of squad trimming, combined with the pursuit of Guimaraes, points to a club trying to sharpen a title-winning group rather than rebuild it, a strategy that puts even more emphasis on results like Dublin serving as a wake-up call rather than a pattern.