Alex Iwobi laments 3-1 scoreline against Manchester City not true reflection of Arsenal's performance

Alex Iwobi believes the final score is not a true reflection of Arsenal's loss to Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday, 5 November, where the Gunners suffered their fourth loss of the season with the Premier League leaders emerging 3-1 winners.

The north London club conceded the first goal following a brilliant run by Kevin de Bruyne as he waltzed past Aaron Ramsey and Laurent Koscielny and slotted the ball through an outstretched Petr Cech. For the second goal, Arsene Wenger was particularly unhappy with the award of a penalty for Nacho Monreal's challenge on Raheem Sterling in the second half – which Sergio Aguero converted.

The third goal was also riddled with controversy, with David Silva clearly offside before his pass to Gabriel Jesus which all but killed the game after the introduction of Alexandre Lacazette had led the Gunners to halve the lead.

The loss means that the north London club are 12 points behind the leaders with their title challenge all but out of the equation.

Iwobi remonstrated on the referee's decisions but also realised there was nothing they could do now and that it would be best to move on and prepare for their next game, against Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates, after the international break.

"Maybe we weren't composing ourselves like we were in the first 10 or 15 minutes. Man City are a very good team and you have to give credit to them, but I believe the result doesn't show how well we did," Iwobi told Arsenal's official website.

"We were pushing to get the equaliser but unfortunately the referee wasn't able to see that it was offside. There's nothing that you can do, we just have to move on to the next game."

When asked if starting Lacazette would have made a difference, he added, "We had an extra attacking player going forward but at the end of the day we set up very well to play against City and we were just unfortunate. Maybe if he'd started on the wing it would have been different, but it is what it is."