'I was with him for 2 minutes' - Nigerian-born ex-Man City star admits Arsenal boss wasn't cheery after loss

Nigerian-born former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha has stressed that manager Mikel Arteta was disappointed shortly after his side's 1-0 loss to Pep Guardiola's Citizens in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup on Friday night. 

In the first meeting between the Premier League giants this season, The Gunners were dumped out of the competition after conceding in the 64th minute. 

Former Chelsea defender Nathan Ake, of all people, was the hero for Manchester City as he curled a low shot into the far corner for the game-winning goal. 

On paper, it seemed Mikel Arteta  was not bothered to go through to the next round considering that he decided to make so many changes to his starting lineup, with the likes of Leandro Trossard, Fabio Vieira, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney starting from the off. 

Arsenal were pretty comfortable in the first half but City upped the tempo in the second half as Julian Alvarez, Kyle Walker and Bernardo Silva were brought on.

Speaking after the game, Onuoha, who was at the Etihad Stadium, told ESPN : "That last question which I asked him he was talking about the disappointment of the defeat, he was trying to talk about the positives of players getting game time and how he did want to rotate.

"I was with him for two minutes, he didn't seem too cheery, I'll be perfectly honest with you so I think there's an element of disappointment that exists within him. 

"Once things settle I'm sure he'll be happy to just focus on the league and Europa League when that starts in a couple of months."

On Arteta not being happy after the defeat, Onuoha continued  : "It's tough. Even with Arteta he's someone I played against, I thought maybe there'll be a connection. I can confirm there was not that, there was nothing."

Flying Eagles-eligible striker Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, who trained with Arsenal's first team before the trip to the Etihad Stadium, was not named in the matchday squad to face Manchester City, and was instead on U21 duties against Tottenham Hotspur.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : arsenal. com

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