Mikel Arteta has expressed pride at the “courage” his Arsenal side demonstrated in avoiding defeat at Liverpool.
Mohamed Salah equalised Gabriel’s early opener as the Premier League’s top two fought out a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Saturday evening
Liverpool twice hitting the woodwork in the second half and having strong claims for a first-half penalty waved away after Martin Odegaard handled inside the area.
A delighted Arteta said:
“It was an unbelievable game of football, one of the most intense and hectic I have witnessed in 20 years in this league.
"It was superb to watch. The boys had the courage to play at that level. I think my players deserve big credit.
“I think the whole team were phenomenal. It is one of the best Liverpools I have seen this year. They made life really difficult and we handled it really well.
“A very different game to last season (when Arsenal drew 2-2 after leading 2-0). With the atmosphere in the stadium they created, it was something else.
"The maturity and the courage we showed, I think we should be very proud.
“At the end in the last 20 minutes the team was really dominant and we really wanted to get the three points. That’s the only regret after the game.”
Arsenal had to weather a storm at the start of the second half as Liverpool cranked up the pressure kicking towards the Kop.
Arteta added
“We give so many balls away after regaining it and they are really good on the counter-press. We lost it in areas and it could have been punished but we generated a lot of moments they didn’t like.”
And of the top spot, Arteta added:
“That shows a lot of consistency for the new group, the best league in the world to lead two years in a row.
"We are where we want to be both in the Premier League and Champions League.
“But we have to improve specially killing games with the amount of dominance we are showing. Some of the games are too close.”
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