The Eagles fought well against the Premier League leaders and arguably had the better of the first-half opportunities – but Ebere Eze’s goal against his former club shortly before the interval ultimately settled an otherwise tight contest.
“We are disappointed about this goal, because we knew that Arsenal are really good in set-pieces, so it's a little bit frustrating,” Lacroix admitted. “Before this goal, I think they didn’t have anything. We played well, we defended well, we had also some opportunities to score.
“I think it was also a really good game from us, and we can see that we have to improve and to score goals. We need to be more accurate in every domain, to not concede goals and to score. I think we did it in the past, so we hope it comes back.
“I think Arsenal are one best teams defensively in the league – you can see that they don’t concede many goals. We knew that it would be difficult, but we showed a really good face and we had some opportunities, but now we have to score them.