Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta urges Bukayo Saka to react after West Ham penalty miss

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has urged Bukayo Saka to respond after he missed a penalty in their 2-2 draw with West Ham United today.

The Gunners led early through Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard. They had chances to kill off the game but didn’t.

West Ham found a way back into the game when Declan Rice took the ball from Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey and set Lucas Paqueta on his way.

Arsenal centre-half Gabriel Magalhaes brought Paqueta down. Said Benhrama stepped up and converted the penalty.

In the second half, Arsenal had a chance to restore their two-goal advantage as they were awarded a spot-kick.

However, Saka fired wide, and Jarrod Bowen equalised minutes later to earn the Hammers a draw.

Arteta said (via Arsenal’s official website): “The same that the team has to respond because probably if you go three-nil, you’re going to win the match.

“Maybe you win the game for a bigger margin, and then we are not discussing what happened here. So you have to put everything into context. 

“If you are prepared to take responsibility to take penalties, you have to know that in that package, the possibility to miss, it’s 100 percent that at some stage. 

“You are going to miss a penalty, and you have to be able to react after that, or you cannot be a penalty taker.

“Bukayo has been through that and will go through that again.”

The draw means Arsenal have dropped two-goal leads in consecutive games against Liverpool and West Ham.

Manchester City are now only four points behind the table-topping Gunners with a game in hand.

The two teams face each other on April 26 and the game will likely decide where the Premier League title will go.