Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has blasted his team's first-half performance against Watford and called the 2-1 defeat "a huge setback."
Arsenal struggled against Watford in the first half at the Emirates and were 2-0 down after just 13 minutes. Manager Arsene Wenger said after the game his team "were not mentally ready" to compete in the duels against a physical Watford side, and Cech echoed those comments.
"We had a very bad start," Cech told the club's official website. "We were second best in the first half. We made so many bad passes, we lost every challenge, we were simply second best. ... I always say that at this level you cannot play 80 minutes, or 85. You have to play 90 minutes with full concentration and everybody on top of their game.
"It was too much for us to take in the first half and it's very hard to say why because we were prepared, we were on back-to-back wins, important wins, we had the momentum after the Burnley game and obviously the Southampton game [in the FA Cup] went completely our way, exactly the way we wanted."
The result leaves Arsenal nine points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea going into their trip to Stamford Bridge on Saturday. It was a missed opportunity for the Gunners, as Chelsea drew at fellow title hopefuls Liverpool and Tottenham were surprisingly held 0-0 at relegation strugglers Sunderland.
"This was a huge setback because this was the game we wanted to win and we wanted to put ourselves in a better position going into the weekend," Cech said.