Arsenal spurned the chance to open up an eight-point lead over title rivals Manchester City and Aston Villa after being held to a frustrating 0–0 draw by Liverpool at the Emirates.
The Gunners dominated the first half, but the Reds were much improved after the break, with clear chances at a premium for both sides. While both managers were happy not to lose, Mikel Arteta is the one with more to unpack from a subdued showing.
Here’s what the managers, players, pundits and stattos made of the action…
Mikel Arteta’s take on the game…
We’re disappointed because we wanted to win the game, but I think overall, with the domination and the situations that we created in the first half, we should have come out of that in a winning position, and that’s the margins in this game. You’re not going to dominate the whole game against the champions, because they are a really good side. But when we have them there and created a situation where we’re having the best spaces to put the ball, find somebody and put the ball in the back of the net, and we didn’t do it. Then in the second half, we were very inconsistent with the ball, losing balls that were very unusual for us – I don’t know if they were the conditions, the fatigue, whatever it is – and then we struggled more to have the right structure and be in distances that we can press them.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Arne Slot on a game of two (pretty sh*t) halves…
In the first half, they were the team that played most in our half, it led to moments of crosses but not big chances. In the second half, it was exactly the opposite, where we dominated the ball possession for almost the whole 45 minutes in their half. The only thing that missed maybe from my side, or our team, was, again, for all the ball possession, all the moments around the box, you’re hoping to create even more chances. But against an Arsenal team that have great momentum to put up a performance like this is something I’m positive about.
Source: Sky Sports
Dominik Szoboszlai on Liverpool’s performance
We faced an unbelievable team. We showed again why we became champions last season. This was a step forward after recent weeks and, yeah, we showed again against a team that is top of the table, we can compet,e and we need to take it with us for the next weeks.
Source: Sky Sports
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David Raya on the result…
We are disappointed with the points, obviously. We wanted the three points. We want to win every single game but sometimes you can’t and if you cannot win the game, make sure you don’t lose it and that’s what we did today. It wasn’t the best second half for us but obviously we will learn from this game and we will go forward.
Source: Viaplay Fotball
Slot on Gabriel Martinelli shoving an injured Conor Bradley off the pitch…
I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli, but he comes across as a nice guy. The problem for him, and it’s a problem in general in football, is that there is so much time-wasting in the final parts of games that sometimes you can be annoyed when you want to score a goal and you feel a player is pretending to be injured. I’m 100 per cent sure that if he knew what the injury might be, he wouldn’t do that.
Source: Sky Sports
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Arteta on the Martinelli-Bradley situation…
Probably, he doesn’t know because, knowing Gabi, there is zero intention. I don’t know what happened to Conor, but hopefully it’s not bad. But obviously, there is no intention from Gabi to do anything bad to him.
Source: Sky Sports
Arteta on Gyokeres’ performance…
He was in great positions, sometimes the ball didn’t arrive, and as I said, there were situations. Normall,y we go into the six-yard box that was almost with the ball at the feet. And normally that’s a goal, or you pick somebody, and you score a goal. We didn’t do that, and that’s the thing that today we have to improve. Apart from the things that we did in the second half that wasn’t probably at the standards that we are used to.
Source: Post-game press conference
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Raya on his partnership with Saliba and Gabriel…
It’s great. I’ve been playing with them for three seasons and the relationship that we have is incredible. No matter if it’s Saliba and Gabriel or other partnerships, we have a great relationship and it’s really, really important to have that, to keep that defence very, very solid and I think we have shown that we are really solid when we are at it and we showed today.
Source: Viaplay Fotball
Ian Wright on Arsenal needing to learn from the game…
You have to credit Liverpool for their second-half performance, but in the first half, Arsenal created enough chances and got the ball in the box when you have to take those opportunities. It is another one for Arsenal to learn about. I am happy they got a point rather than nothing. They are still in pole position.
Source: premierleague.com
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Arteta on tonight feeling like a missed opportunity…
Yeah, every time you don’t win [it feels like that]. But then we would have been 12, 15 or 20 points ahead. I have to really praise the team and the players individually for what they’ve done in this Christmas period. Because the demands and the schedule, it’s unbelievable. And what they’ve done, I think, is remarkable. So to come out of this period with all the issues that we had, in the position that we are, in our strong position that we are, I think the boys deserve my credit and everybody’s recognition.
Source: Post-game press conference
Michael Own on Liverpool’s defenders stepping up tonight…
When you are champions, when you are playing against other great players and playing on a stage like this, you have something about you that says we aren’t going to get embarrassed. The performances of the likes of Van Dijk and Konate were ones of champions.
Source: premierleague.com
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Roy Keane on Arsenal’s title chances…
He’ll be pleased, the manager. Six points clear after 21 games, what a position to be in. But you have to believe Manchester City and Aston Villa will hunt them down. It will be an interesting few weeks. In the window. Will clubs strengthen? We’ve seen what City want to do. At this moment in time, Arsenal are obviously red-hot favourites to win the title.
Source: Sky Sports