Down to 10 men isn’t an excuse not to win game: Bellerin after draw

Bellerin's comments came after Arsenal were restricted to a goalless draw by Leeds United in the Premier League here on Sunday. During the match, Nicolas Pepe was sent off early in the second half

Leeds: Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin has said that he always approaches a game of football with a winning mindset and going down to 10 men is not an excuse not to win the match.

Bellerin’s comments came after Arsenal were restricted to a goalless draw by Leeds United in the Premier League here on Sunday. During the match, Nicolas Pepe was sent off early in the second half after an off-the-ball clash with Ezgjan Alioski.

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“At the end of the day, we looked solid at the back and we demonstrated that playing with 10 men and even against a team like Leeds, who are a team that don’t get tired and go at you for the 95 minutes of the game. We still managed to keep them at bay and we need to take those positives,” the club’s official website quoted Bellerin as saying.

“As a football player, I feel like even with 10 men I still want to win. I don’t want to approach the game with a mindset that we’re down to 10 men so now we have an excuse not to win this game,” he added.

Bellerin also said that he has “loads of mixed feelings” about the match.

“I have to say I have loads of mixed feelings about the game. As a football player, the sentence ‘being happy with a draw’ doesn’t really resonate with me. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are or if you’re down to 10 men, I’m someone that always wants to win especially when we were able to in some situations,” he said.

“I think the game, at the end, was defined by small margins. They hit the post a couple of times, we had a few free-kicks and corners towards the end that we didn’t make use of. In these kinds of games, those are the chances that you need to take,” Bellerin added.

Arsenal are currently placed on the 11th spot on the Premier League table with 13 points from nine games. The club will now take on Molde in the Europa League on November 26.