Contract doubt is not an excuse for poor show: Luiz

LONDON • Arsenal's David Luiz has blamed himself for his team's 3-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester City in which he was sent off in the 49th minute.

Luiz, whose contract runs out at the end of the month, came on as a 24th-minute substitute for the injured Pablo Mari but endured a dreadful night on Wednesday.

The defender, 33, was at fault for Raheem Sterling's opener just before the interval and then gave away the penalty for the second goal four minutes after the restart.

Not only did his mistake led to the goal by Kevin de Bruyne, but his expulsion, for the foul on Riyad Mahrez, left Arsenal short-handed.

"It's my fault," the Brazilian said.

"The team did well, especially with 10 men. The coach is amazing, all the players are amazing, it was my fault."

Luiz suggested he should have resolved his contractual situation by now but said his status was not a factor in his performance.

"I should have taken a different decision in the last two months but I didn't," he told Sky Sports."I should have tried to decide my future as early as possible, but I didn't.

"I don't want to use that as an alibi or excuse, it's my fault - that's it. I love to be here. That's why I continue to train hard."

Phil Foden scored for City in stoppage time to take the team to 60 points, 22 behind leaders Liverpool with nine rounds left.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his focus now is on getting his starting line-up ready for their next game at Brighton tomorrow.

Midfielder Granit Xhaka picked up a knock before centre-back Mari suffered an Achilles problem.

"The boys made a great effort here playing for so long with 10 men after three months. So let's recover first and then tomorrow we can start to think about that," Arteta told Arsenal's website.

Arsenal are ninth in the league with 40 points from 29 matches.

REUTERS