Difficult To Take, Says Ricardo
- Ricardo Pereira reacts to Sunday’s 2-0 Premier League loss at Arsenal
- Thomas Partey and Alexandre Lacazatte were on target for the London outfit
- City went close to equalising through Harvey Barnes with the scoreline at 1-0
The Gunners were ahead within 12 minutes, when Thomas Partey nodded in, however the Foxes responded well and only a stunning save from Aaron Ramsdale prevented Harvey Barnes from heading Leicester level.
After the interval, Arsenal doubled their lead through Alexandre Lacazatte following a VAR review for a penalty, and that proved too much for City to recover from.
Ricardo, who made a return from injury, told LCFC TV: “It’s hard when you lose the game when you took a goal from a corner and a penalty. They didn’t have a lot of chances in open play, so it’s a difficult one to take.
“[We needed to] be more aggressive, that makes the difference, and then, the key moments of the game, like the corner, the penalty, it’s unlucky on our part. That made the difference.”
Both sides had registered four consecutive wins heading into the match, but it was Arsenal who prevailed to move into the Premier League’s top four. City are now 12th, but have games in hand on sides around them.
“They’re in very good form, that’s true,” Ricardo continued. “They playing at home, and I think we had something to say. If we had a little more chances, we had a chance in the first half to score, and that could make the difference.
“If we scored before half-time, the game would be different for sure, and even if the penalty doesn’t happen, it’s 1-0 and things would be different.”
City will contest the second leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League Round of 16 tie in Brittany on Thursday, with Ricardo returning to France having enjoyed victories over Rennes while at Nice from 2015 to 2017.
“It will be good to be back in France, and I hope we can keep the momentum with another win,” the Portugal star concluded.