Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was pleased to emerge from his side’s game with Liverpool with a point, even though the Gunners twice led at the Emirates, first through Bukayo Saka and then Mikel Merino.
Virgil van Dijk pulled Liverpool level in the first half and then Mohamed Salah rescued the Reds in the second, with Arne Slot’s men showing plenty of character in coming from behind.
It maintains the four-point gap between the teams, with Arsenal missing the chance to cut it to one and Liverpool having missed the chance to open up a seven-point distance.“I told you we are going to be flying on Sunday and we were flying,” Arteta said during his press conference.
Still, though, even when it was playing well and took the lead, Arsenal could not find a way to get over the line.“I think the performance overall with all the circumstances was very positive,” he told Arsenal’s official website. “A lot of great things to take, but it’s disappointing not to win it because I thought we were the better team.
We had the most domination, the biggest chances and without conceding anything really, we gave two goals away, apart from two big decisions as well.
With everything that we’ve been through in the last few weeks, with all the injuries and situations that we had, the team was exceptional.
The energy that we created, the way we dominated the top team in the league at the moment, and where we’re coming from, it says a lot about how much we want it and, as well, the quality that we have.
That Arteta was so positive about a home draw against Liverpool speaks volumes for the start that Slot’s men have made this season.
The Reds had not drawn under their new head coach yet — winning 11 times and losing to Nottingham Forest — and yet Arsenal still saw the result as a statement.
Injuries didn’t help, of course, but Liverpool, it should be noted, also had players missing. Alisson Becker and Diogo Jota, the latter of whom has an excellent record against the Gunners, would have started. William Saliba was absent for the host, but that of his own doing.
In some ways, this was a missed chance for Liverpool to play better and get more than a share of the spoils. In others, Arsenal, having been ahead more than once, might think it should have gotten over the line.
The full extent of the difference it will make to the Premier League title picture remains to be seen. What we do know is that Arteta’s positive reaction shows just how he views the threat of Liverpool developing in the coming months.
