Hector Bellerin believes ten-man Arsenal should be ‘proud’ of their goalless draw at Leeds and has confidently told supporters that ‘everything is going to be fine’ despite the team languishing down in 11th place in the Premier League table.
Nicolas Pepe was given his marching orders for headbutting Ezgjan Alioski in the 51st minute and Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds side will be disappointed to have missed out on all three points after spurning a host of chances at Elland Road.
The Gunners have now won just one of their last five matches in the top flight, finding the net just once on that run, and Mikel Arteta may be feeling the pressure ahead of a busy winter period which could make or break the club’s season.
But, despite Arsenal dropping yet more points, Bellerin felt there were ‘positives’ to take from the game away to a resilient Leeds team.
‘I have to say I have lots of mixed feeling about the game,’ the right-back told Arsenal’s official website shortly after the final whistle.
‘As a football player, being happy with a draw doesn’t really resonate with me. Doesn’t matter about the circumstances, doesn’t matter if you’re down to ten men, I’m someone that always wants to win, especially when we were able to.
‘But I think the game was defined by small margins. We hit the post a couple of times, had a few free-kicks and corners towards the end that we didn’t make use of and in these kind of games you have to take those chances.
‘At the end of the day, we looked solid at the back and demonstrated that playing with ten men, even against a team like Leeds that don’t get tired, we still managed to keep them at bay and we have take those as positives.
‘Leeds have brilliant ideas, they attack with everything they have and that requires a lot of physical fitness because they still do that at the end.
‘And the fact that we couldn’t put together some attacks in the second half, they didn’t have to defend as much so they even had more energy to go forward.
‘But I think we did all we could. We were lucky in some situations, we were unlucky in others but considering the situation, we have to be proud of the fact we kept a clean sheet.
‘We know we need to work harder to finish in those situations that we have up top.’
Asked whether the clean sheet felt like an achievement, Bellerin replied: ‘Yes it does but, as I say and as a football player, I feel like even with ten men I still want to win.
‘I don’t want to approach the game with a mindset that we’re down to ten men so now we have an excuse not to win this game.
‘And I think with the players we have, we have the chance to even win this game and I think we tried really hard.
‘It’s down to very little margins the fact we just went home with a draw. I’m sure there will be people that will be happy with it but I think as a team we need to keep pushing and take on the positive things that happened in the game, put it in the past and focus on the now.’
An optimistic Bellerin insisted the results and the rewards would follow as long as Arsenal’s players continued to ‘believe’ in their manager.
‘A lot of people don’t want to talk about luck but sometimes it comes down to these things,’ the Spaniard added.
‘It comes down to training, it comes down to practice, it comes down to being inspired and making the right decision in the game.
‘Football is not black and white, there’s so many things that happen on that football pitch, so many things that condition the way you play and the decisions you make.
‘Sometimes we make the right decision and sometimes we don’t and I think that’s why football is so beautiful and so unpredictable at the same time.
‘If a striker scored every time he was one-vs-one against the ‘keeper it would be boring so I think it’s just about keep working the way that we are.
‘We have the right culture at the club and the right approach now and I think we just need to keep the results coming, build our confidence, believe in what the manager wants from us and I think everything is going to be fine.’
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