DEFENDER Steve Cook admitted he would hold his hands up over Arsenal’s crucial second goal and said the Gunners had preyed on a “half-mistake”.

Less than 90 seconds after German star Mesut Ozil had opened the scoring, the unfortunate Cook saw the ball run free after it had swiftly arrived at his feet on the edge of the box.

Midfielder Aaron Ramsey seized possession and fed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who thumped home off the far post to put the visitors firmly in control.

Cook told the Daily Echo: “At 1-0 you are a lot more in the game than 2-0 so to concede in the way we did, quite quickly after the first, was frustrating.

“The ball came at me quite quickly and instead of trying to pass it, I tried to sort my feet out but the way the ball came to me, it went straight to their player and they scored off the back of it.

“If anyone’s going to be blamed, it’s me, and I will take that.

“That’s why Arsenal are competing for the league – because you make a half-mistake and they punish you for it.

“When we got in at half-time, we were still in the game. We felt that if we got the next goal we would be able to take the game to Arsenal but we couldn’t quite get it.

“We worked our socks off and were a lot better in the second half but they were already 2-0 up by that point. It was probably easier for them to sit back and hit us on the counter.

“It was disappointing to lose. I thought the second half was a proper Bournemouth performance. We pressed high and put them under a lot of pressure but a mad couple of minutes lost us the game.

“The work rate and commitment that the lads showed in the second half will stand us in good stead and we will look to bounce back against Stoke on Saturday.”

Cherries were largely restricted to shots from outside the box due to a miserly display from the Arsenal back four but Cook felt that his side’s failure to find the net was nothing to be too concerned about looking forward.

He said: “Arsenal are hard to break down and the lads were well within their rights to have a shot. Sometimes they fly in the top corner and today it was unfortunate that they didn’t hit the target.

“If you don’t shoot, you don’t score and it’s nothing to panic about. It’s frustrating that we didn’t score but it’s just one game.”

Despite defeat to Arsene Wenger’s title-chasing side, Cook said Cherries’ strong recent run and the strength of the opposition should be taken into consideration.

He added: “I don’t think we looked out of sorts by any stretch. We always think we can get something out of any game and that’s why we’re disappointed.

“We’ve only lost three games in 15 and two of those games were to Arsenal.

“You never want to lose a game but this may turn out to be one of the toughest of the season.”