Mikel Arteta responded to Rwanda president Paul Kagame’s criticism of Arsenal following their shock defeat to newly promoted Brentford last weekend.

The Gunners suffered a nightmare Premier League opener as they lost 2-0 to Brentford.

Rwanda are one of Arsenal’s sponsors with the ‘Visit Rwanda’ logo printed on the sleeve of their shirt.

Following the defeat, Kagame wrote on Twitter: “What?? It’s football, it’s a loss of Arsenal at/to Brentford. Brentford deserved to win and they did.

“The game itself aside Arsenal and the fans don’t deserve to kind of get used to this….NO!!! I say this as one of the big fans of Arsenal. The change has taken too long to come!

“It’s been a struggle of about decade(s) -ups & downs – more downs until this point. Can’t we have a plan that really works?? One part to look at is how we deal in the market- players we buy to execute the plan. The touch & go mentality does not bring change.

“We just must NOT excuse or Accept mediocrity. A team has to be built with purpose to win, win, win. So that when we lose….it was not to be expected! I am sure we all know on whose shoulders the heaviest burden rests.

“I hope they know too or even accept it!!!”

And Arteta has since responded to the remarks and reckons they were very “disrespectful.”

He said: “I’m talking about the lack of clarity in the messages and using moments to try to come and using some very disrespectful ways to describe certain things. That’s what I’m saying. Nothing new.

“It’s not about pointing, it’s about expressing the feelings that are so obvious in moments like this.”

Arteta and his players will hope to bounce back from the shock defeat to Brentford when they host Chelsea on Sunday.