Jurrien Timber agrees with Mikel Arteta on Arsenal's biggest problem this season

Mikel Arteta reacted to Arsenal's first defeat of the season at Brighton by spending the international break watching videos of other Premier League teams.

Gunners fans may have believed this season was going to be 'scary hours' for the rest of the Premier League. But Arteta did not need a rough 60 minutes against Daniel Farke's previously unbeaten Leeds to know the opposite is true.

The physical battles his side struggled to handle at the Amex are likely to be a weekly occurrence. They just about dealt with it at Sunderland. And barely got away with it against Leeds on Saturday.

The Arsenal boss admitted his side are treading a fine line between playing like champions and being average. It is a concept Jurrien Timber is on board with.

FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

So much so that he refused to entertain the suggestion Arsenal's struggles with high-intensity teams were due to players like himself returning from injury and others, like Declan Rice, staring at the World Cup.

Timber said: “The Premier League is tough. Every game is going to be tough. Every game is going to be different. Like Mikel says, the line is very thin, so if you want to win a game, you have to be at your best.

“Otherwise, it's going to be very hard to win. And that's just the level at the moment. We have no other choice than to get to that level and be at our best every three or four days. And I think the team that's going to be consistently good in those kinds of margins is going to win this season.”

The margin is just as thin when it comes to places in the starting line-up. Timber's second-half appearance off the bench was his first at the Emirates since March, after injury ruled him out of the title run-in and World Cup. For Timber, the process of regaining his right-back spot is simple – play your best.

He said: “Missing experiences like that, it's hard. It makes you realise how lucky you are when you're able to play, when you're fit. It's hard when your team is battling for something so big and you couldn't help in the way you wanted to.

“It's also a learning moment as well. But this is life, I think, and I got out of it OK. We did as well. We became champions, which is amazing. This team just asks for a certain level and certain demands, and it's just what we expect from each other. Everyone needs to be at their best if you want to play.

“You don't really need motivation. You just need to be at your best, and if you're not, you're not playing. It's that easy.”

Timber was happy to have his Emirates comeback overshadowed by fellow substitute Bruno Guimaraes, who scored the winner just minutes after coming on.

His strike came after James Justin had given Leeds a 55th-minute lead, which was cancelled out by Riccardo Calafiori's close-range header.

Timber added: “I think the way Bruno came in was amazing. He changed the energy and the mood and everything.”