Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is still "so proud" of his players despite the leaders slipping to a 1-0 defeat at lowly Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
The defeat, which came courtesy of James Tarkowski's second-half header at Goodison Park, was just Arsenal's second of the Premier League season – their first coming against Manchester United at Old Trafford in September.
The result means Manchester City can cut the Gunners' lead at the top of the table to just two points with victory over Tottenham on Sunday, although the London side will have a game in hand.
Arteta, who became the first Arsenal manager to lose three consecutive away Premier League games against the Toffees, lamented his side's inability to deal with Everton's physical threat, but hopes it will act as an important lesson for the remainder of the season.
“We had loads of the ball and we generated many chances, but we lacked that purpose and quality in the final third," he told BT Sport.
"Then we conceded and they slowed the game down and we struggled.
"They do this to every team. Their physicality is their strength. If you want to control the game against them you have to control this. We did not do that.
"We needed more composure and to better control the game emotionally. We gave away so many unnecessary free-kicks and that's what they want.
"Today I love them much better than the week before or a month ago. It is easy to be next to someone when they are winning well. I am still so proud of all of these players, they deserve it.
"This is not going to be a rosy pathway. This is going to be tricky and we will have to dig in and play much better than we did today."
Arsenal will hope to return to winning ways against Brentford next Saturday, before a mouth-watering clash with Pep Guardiola’s City four days later.
Women's Champions League roundup: Real Madrid snatch first leg lead
A late goal from Melanie Leupolz gave Real Madrid a 2-1 first-leg aggregate advantage over Sporting CP in their Champions League qualifier.
The away side took the lead after just 11 minutes as Athenea del Castillo capitalised on a poor mistake from Sporting keeper Hannah Seabert and slotted the ball into an empty net.
Despite Madrid's dominance, they were pegged back on the stroke of half-time after a foul by keeper Misa Rodriguez in the box, with Andreia Bravo making no mistake from the spot.
Madrid continued to dominate in the second half, with Alba Redondo going close, but it looked as if Sporting would hang for a draw to take to Madrid next week.
But that was before Leupolz headed the ball into the net in injury-time after Olga Carmona's cross could only be parried out.
Meanwhile, Galatasaray squandered a two-goal advantage to draw their home-leg encounter with Slavia Prague.
A second-half brace from Andrea Staskova looked to have given the Turkish side a healthy lead to take to the Czech Republic, but Slavia Prague responded late on, with Benan Altintas scoring an own goal 15 minutes from time, before Kristina Kosikova's 98th minute equaliser.
St Polten, meanwhile, hold a healthy first leg lead after defeating Musa 3-0 at home.
The first half produced no goals, but the Austrian side showed their class in the second half, with Kamila Dubcova, Melike Pekel and Izabela Krizaj all getting on the scoresheet.
Colorado Rapids v Toronto FC: Armas calls on hosts to heed 'wakeup call'
Chris Armas says the Colorado Rapids' comprehensive defeat to Sporting Kansas City must serve as a wakeup call as they prepare to resume their playoff push against Toronto FC.
Colorado won their first two games upon returning to MLS play after the Leagues Cup break, but they were brought crashing back to earth with a 4-1 defeat in Kansas City in midweek.
Armas' men remain in a positive position, sitting fourth in the Western Conference standings with a game in hand on some of the teams around them, but he knows they need to ensure Wednesday's performance was a one-off.
"It's probably a wakeup call to all of us, what these games are going to look like," Armas said. "Everyone's fighting for something.
"Everyone's got something to play for and in our league, everyone is capable. A positive is we're on 47 points, we've earned every one of those points.
"We're in a good spot for the playoffs, we've put ourselves probably a win or two away from the playoffs.
"We're going to get home and regroup quickly, then get right back where we've been all year."
Toronto, meanwhile, are occupying a wild-card spot in the East after losing 2-0 to the Columbus Crew in their last match.
"We should have taken something out of the first half, that's clear, then in the second half we had to capitalise on the moments we had," coach John Herdman said afterwards.
"For us, the lads were in the fight, there was a good spirit and they were tactically disciplined and committed.
"We need that from every single player to get into the playoffs, we need every player to play above their level."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Colorado Rapids – Djordje Mihailovic
Mihailovic has 22 goal involvements in MLS play this season (10 goals, 12 assists), the most of any Colorado player. He has not scored in any of their last four regular-season home games, though, so he will be desperate to get back among the goals here.
Toronto FC – Deandre Kerr
Kerr has scored two of Toronto's last three goals in MLS play. He has five goal involvements (three goals, two assists) in just 10 league starts this year.
MATCH PREDICTION – COLORADO RAPIDS WIN
Toronto have earned just 15 points from 45 available on their travels in MLS play this season, winning four, drawing three and losing eight.
They face a daunting task at Dicks' Sporting Goods Park, where Colorado have a record of nine wins, three draws and two defeats in regular-season action this season.
The Rapids are also unbeaten in their last nine league games on their own turf, winning seven and drawing two, and they are favoured to maintain that form here.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Colorado Rapids- 57.8%
Toronto FC – 20.3%
Draw – 21.9%
Brest 2-1 Sturm Graz: Hosts making winning start on European bow
Abdallah Sima's second-half goal secured Brest their first-ever win in a European competition in a 2-1 victory over 10-man Sturm Graz on Thursday.
The French side made their Champions League bow, with goals in either half enough to overcome an own goal on the stroke of half-time.
Hugo Magnetti scored Brest's maiden European goal just 23 minutes in, expertly controlling it on his chest before volleying into the bottom corner to break the deadlock.
However, Sturm Graz equalised just before the break, with Edimilson Fernandes inadvertently sending the ball into his own net.
Brest adopted a more aggressive approach following the interval, and they were rewarded when Sima restored the French side's advantage by skilfully evading his marker to score in the 56th minute.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men with just two minutes remaining of the 90 when Dimitri Lavalee received his second booking after a late tackle on Magnetti. Jonas Martin then had two late chances to snatch a third but was denied by Kjell Scherpen.
Data Debrief: Making an entrance
Brest’s win over Sturm Graz was just the second by a team making their debut in major European competition across the last 21 attempts (D4 L15), with Zrinjski Mostar in last season's UEFA Conference League the only other victor in that time.
Magnetti netted on what was his first-ever start in European competition, becoming the first player to net a team's first-ever goal in the Champions League from outside the area since Demba Ba for Istanbul Basaksehir against Manchester United in November 2020.
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