Ammon News - Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his players were fuming after losing 3-1 to Real Betis in Dublin on ​Wednesday, though the Spaniard was pleased with their reaction ‌to the pre-season defeat.

Betis punished a series of defensive errors to score three times in the first half through Rodrigo Riquelme, Nelson Deossa ​and Pablo Fornals, with Arsenal responding through Piero Hincapie ​just after the half-hour mark.

"Very upset, given a ⁠hard time. They are fuming, but this is good. That's ​what we need," Arteta told reporters.

"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."

Arsenal ​were without several key players including Declan Rice, Bukayo ​Saka, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke, while Martin Odegaard has only recently ‌resumed ⁠individual training.

The Premier League champions fielded a strong line-up, however, with Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz and new signing Christos Tzolis all starting the match.

Midfielder Louie Copley suffered a knee injury shortly ​after coming ​on as a ⁠substitute and Arteta was concerned the 19-year-old may have sustained serious damage.
"Quite worried to be ​fair for the kid because the mechanism doesn't ​look ⁠very positive and the symptoms that he already has," the manager said.

"So we are going to have to wait and see ⁠for ​tomorrow's scan. Touch wood that is ​not a bad one."

Arsenal begin their Premier League campaign against Coventry City on ​August 21.

Reuters