"We're going to be judged" - Mikel Arteta comments on Arsenal performances ahead of Chelsea clash

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has commented about the club's recent performances ahead of their upcoming London derby against Chelsea. The two sides will face off in the Premier League today (November 10) at Stamford Bridge.

The Gunners have not had the best run of form in recent weeks. In their last six games across all competitions, they have only won twice - once against Preston North End in the EFL Cup and once against Shakhtar Donetsk in Europe. Two 1-0 losses in a row against Newcastle United and Inter Milan have not made things easy.

Speaking about these performances to Paul Merson for Sky Sports, ahead of the Chelsea clash, Mikel Arteta said:

"It was a wrong result, that's for sure. But as you said, I think the performance and everything that we tried to do in the game and how superior we are to the opponent was there.

"At the end, we're going to be judged by results, and we should be. And, yeah, we didn't score, they did. And we are extremely disappointed that we didn't get what we deserved... We are here to win, you know, and that's the only thing that is valid."

Arteta also spoke about the unavailability of important players and other factors that may have affected their run of form, adding:

"If I'm the one starting like this [face in hands], and with the amount of sending off that we had, and the amount of injuries that we had in the first six, seven weeks of the Premier League, that's not the approach.

"There's no excuses to that. We have faced a very difficult context ourselves, because of injuries, because of suspension, because of the schedule that we had."

The Arsenal manager finished:

"So we competed in every game with our real teeth, showing our teeth, and the fact is that the results sometimes didn't come our way. So we have to be better, even though we don't have everything that we wanted or hoped for."

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Who will be unavailable for Arsenal's upcoming match against Chelsea?

A few Arsenal players are expected to be out of contention for their London derby against Chelsea. Takehiro Tomiyasu has been dealing with a knee injury since the summer and has yet to return to full fitness.

Kieran Tierney has a hamstring injury, and like Tomiyasu, has been out since the summer. Fellow defender Riccardo Calafiori has also struggled with a knee injury recently, and he is expected to be out until after the international break.

Arsenal have a boost for their Chelsea game in captain Martin Odegaard, who returned to fitness and played a bit-part role in their 1-0 loss to Inter Milan (November 6). They will be hoping he can play much more than the five minutes of injury time he played in that match.