Mikel Arteta defended under-fire Arsenal forward Kai Havertz after he endured another off day in front of goal against Manchester United on Sunday. 

Just five days after suffering a 2-0 first-leg defeat to Newcastle United in the EFL Cup semi-finals, Arsenal were dumped out of the FA Cup by the Red Devils, who triumphed 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal played around an hour with a numerical advantage after Diogo Dalot's red card, with Martin Odegaard seeing a penalty saved by stand-in United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir at 1-1. 

Havertz, meanwhile, missed plenty of clear-cut opportunities and was the only player to fail to score in the shoot-out, seeing his kick turned around the post by Bayindir.

The German – who also struggled versus Newcastle – led all players for shots (five) and touches in the area (11), but failed to take any of his chances, which totalled 0.8 expected goals (xG).

Arteta, though, retains faith in Havertz and his other attackers, saying: "To him and to all of them, I love them, we all love them. Individually and collectively, they are a joy.

"What this team produces every three days is incredible, regardless of what happens. I am not going to lose sight of that because of a result or two, because we didn't deserve it.

"What we can do better, let's try to do it. But it's difficult to achieve, it's an emotional part, it's something related to confidence as well."

Havertz has seven goals from 7.81 xG in the Premier League this season, while his shooting accuracy of 50% is the joint fourth-worst of all players to net a minimum of five goals (after Brennan Johnson, Antoine Semenyo and Morgan Rogers).

Arsenal attempted 26 shots to United's seven, registering a mammoth figure of 3.22 xG to their opponents' 0.27, while they also had 55 touches in the area to the visitors' 13.

Arteta could hardly believe their hopes of FA Cup glory were over, saying: "With the amount of situations, chances, penalties that we had, you have to score more and we didn't. 

"We go home extremely sad, but I cannot be more proud of my players."

Arsenal also suffered a major blow when in-form forward Gabriel Jesus was carried off on a stretcher late in the first half, having scored six goals in his previous six games.

Many supporters have called for Arsenal to sign a new striker in the January transfer window, and though those calls are unlikely to go away, Arteta trusts his current squad.

"I understand that [transfer talk] but I cannot love our players more and we very much focus on the players we have to perform at the highest level," Arteta said.

"The rest is not in our hands, not in my hands."

Arsenal are back in Premier League action against neighbours Tottenham on Wednesday, by which time they could be nine points behind leaders Liverpool.