Arteta: Arsenal ‘completely dominated’ City despite missed chances

• Arsenal held 67.2% possession, the most ever against a Pep Guardiola team.
• Mikel Arteta defended his starting lineup and praised his side’s control.
• He said Arsenal will be “fine” in the title race if they maintain this level.

Mikel Arteta defended his team selection in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City, insisting his side “completely dominated” the match despite failing to take all three points.

Arsenal trailed early after Erling Haaland’s ninth-minute opener but rescued a draw through Gabriel Martinelli’s stoppage-time strike. The result leaves the Gunners five points behind leaders Liverpool.

Arteta’s side controlled 67.2% of possession across the 90 minutes, the highest figure ever recorded against a Pep Guardiola team. But questions were raised about his decision to leave Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Martinelli on the bench at kick-off.

“I leave that to you [to decide],” Arteta told reporters. “But there was a lot of attacking players in that team. It’s easy to say that [we lacked ambition], but we started the game very well and completely dominated. City scored a goal and then did nothing. Everybody tries to do best to get a result, that’s fine. But we controlled the game and dominated and the second-half was the same.

“I’m extremely proud of my players and team, but very disappointed with the result. The pride I feel is that we dominated the game. One City chance is a corner, another is a counter-attack and the other is a giveaway. That’s it. To keep City to just that, chapeau to the boys.”

Summer signing Viktor Gyökeres, who joined from Sporting CP for £63.5m ($85.7m), failed to register a shot during the match. Arteta said that was more about service than the striker’s positioning.

“There was a lot of very good balls in the box and he [Gyökeres] was very close to them,” he said. “Against City, it is very difficult to get clear chances. There were a lot of situations, the chances were there, but the final pass was missing.”

Despite slipping five points behind Liverpool, who beat Arsenal 1-0 at Anfield earlier in the season, Arteta remained optimistic about the title race.

“We cannot control that. They [Liverpool] win every match,” he said. “It’s going to be very difficult but if we play at this level, like we did against Manchester City, we will be fine.”