Aston Villa<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe Gunners played their last home game of the season against Villa on Sunday, and the 2-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium sees them on the brink of slipping to fourth in the standings – should Manchester City win their game in hand.<\/p>\n
It was also the north London club’s third loss in four games, extending a dismal run that has seen them win only three of their last 14 matches in all competitions.<\/p>\n
The Belgian was returning from an Achilles injury to make his first appearance for the Gunners since August – and he believes his team should have been much better.<\/p>\n
“I’m happy to be on the pitch again but the game was awful,” Vermaelen said, according to The Sun<\/em>.<\/p>\n“The second half was good because we were the better side but in the first 15 or 20 minutes we were really bad. Our mentality was not good enough.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think we can accept that as an Arsenal side. We should work on that because, otherwise, it’s not good enough.”<\/p>\n
The former Ajax defender added: “We have to work really hard every day to change that and especially our mentality must be better. We have to change that otherwise we’re not going to win a lot of games any more.<\/p>\n
“We dropped too many points at home this season and that was key.”<\/p>\n
Because of their recent failure to pick up points, Arsenal will have to get through an early two-legged qualifying tie to secure their spot in next season’s Champions League group stage, if Manchester City manage to win their last two games of the season.<\/p>\n
“It should be in our minds that it’s a big difference if you have to qualify or not for the Champions League. It’s something really important to play for,” said Vermaelen.<\/p>\n
“If we’d won the last two games we’d be in the Champions League. “But now we have to battle with City for that third spot, so it’s going to be difficult.”<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Read more:
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![\"Thomas](\"http:\/\/u.goal.com\/112900\/112996_news.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n