Dominik Szoboszlai’s late free-kick was enough to decide a cagey contest at Anfield as Liverpool handed Arsenal their first defeat of the season.
The Hungarian midfielder found the net via the post with seven minutes to go, and despite lengthy stoppage time and a flurry of attacking substitutions, the Gunners couldn’t find a way through as the home defence repelled a series of long balls into the box.
Arsenal were probably worth a point, but their failure to push harder against a Liverpool side that was well short of its best ultimately cost them.
“Obviously, I’m very disappointed with the result but I’m very proud of my players,” Arteta told Sky Sports.
“I think we, both teams, elevated the game to a level that there were no margins between the two, and very little happens, a lot of action in many areas, not that much in the boxes.
“It was going to be decided in two possible actions, an individual error or a magic moment, and it was decided in a magic moment.”
For an hour or so, the Gunners’ plan to stymie the home side was effective. Even as momentum started to shift in the Reds’ favour, they didn’t create a huge amount in the final third. When Szoboszlai lined up to shoot from 30 yards, few would have backed him to beat a goalkeeper in David Raya who hadn’t conceded this season.
“You cannot dominate here for 95 minutes, it’s impossible,” said Arteta.
“You’re going to go through those moments \[under pressure\], and it was a moment when our keeper had the ball in their hands, and then we didn’t have any sequences of play afterwards.
“But we navigated without conceding anything, but at the end, again, you need to find a way to win these big matches.
“A lot of times, it’s individual magic moments that decide them, and for sure, that was my case with an unbelievable free kick.”
Defeat extends Arsenal’s winless run at Anfield in the league – not since 2013 have they tasted success – and it left Arteta lamenting a lack of ruthlessness in the box, particularly from debutant Eberechi Eze, who squandered an opportunity to pull the trigger having wriggled free in the box.
That said, he made clear the performance was better than that in April’s draw when the Gunners battled back from two goals behind to snatch a point.
“You have to put the ball in the back of the net when you have it,” he said.
“We were much better than last year \[April\] when we drew the game, much, much better, no difference. And today, when we have three, four, five situations inside the box, 1v1, when Eze is completely through, just to finish the action, you have to put those balls in the back of the net if you want to win the game.”
Arsenal came into today’s game without Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka and with captain Martin Odegaard only fit enough to start on the bench. After two minutes, they then had to substitute William Saliba, with the manager revealing the France international had picked up a problem in the warm-up.
“We lost Martin, we lost Kai, then we lost Bukayo the week before. In the warm-up, we lost Saliba. It affects you, but I’m very proud of the players, the way they reacted, the way they tried with their qualities, tried to implement what we wanted to do, and again, the margin was almost zero.”