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.”

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.

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