Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta issues honest verdict after Liverpool game with 'really strong' claim

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta issued his verdict after the goalless draw against Liverpool in the Premier League, where neither side could find a way to break the deadlock

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.(Image: James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was not surprised that Liverpool gave his team a good game in the Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium, where the scoreline was 0-0.

Jeremie Frimpong was a livewire down the right for Liverpool and Conor Bradley and Dominik Szoboszlai both went close, but the Reds couldn't muster a shot to test David Raya. Nonetheless, neither side deserved to win the game, with Arsenal on top for much of the first half and then Arne Slot's men the better of the two in the second.

"We know that the margins are very small. I think we have two different halves," Arteta told Sky Sports.

"The first one, where we have a lot of domination, created big situations with players almost onside the six-yard box to pick a player up, and we didn't find the right pass to score the goal. And the second half was a bit more of a struggle.

"This game needs some magic moments, and at Anfield, [Dominik] Szoboszlai did it, and they won the game, and today it didn't happen, but you cannot win it, you cannot lose it.

"We have some moments where we have the right positional advantages to really hurt them, and then when we got into these areas, we lacked quality to pick the players.

Mikel Arteta and Arne Slot shake hands before the Premier League clash between Arsenal and Liverpool.(Image: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

"We've come from a very demanding schedule. The last six games that we've played in this Christmas period, and we've come out of that in a really strong position."

At the end of the game, tempers flared when Conor Bradley was down injured and Gabriel Martinelli threw the ball at him. It remains to be seen what the extent of the problem is for the Liverpool ace, but it didn't look promising.

"Probably he doesn't know because knowing Gabi, there is zero intention," Arteta said. "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."

Bradley will need to undergo a scan to confirm how bad the injury issue he picked up is. For now, Slot said it is simply too soon to tell, though he could offer another update on Monday when the Reds take on Barnsley in the FA Cup.

"I am a bit surprised that people think this is a good performance, because normally when we have 60 or 70 per cent ball possession against other teams, people find it boring," Slot said in his post-match press conference.

"We hardly created a chance but now it is 'phwoar, what a performance'. This is who we are. We can dominate ball possession and we know how to do it well, but we struggled, obviously, in a few things.

"Dominating moments when we are in the final third and then to find the right pass, that is something that is still not at the level some of the teams are. That's why we are working every single day."