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Former Premier League centre-back Joleon Lescott believes Mikel Arteta was correct to adopt a cautious mentality for Arsenal's encounter with Liverpool.
Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai produced a moment of brilliance last Sunday, handing Arne Slot the early upper hand in the Premier League title battle. The Hungarian's set-piece was the match's solitary strike when Arsenal travelled to Anfield, securing all three points for the hosts with a 1-0 scoreline.
Gunners boss Arteta selected a starting line-up that reflected his team's cautious strategy for the fixture, fielding a midfield trio of Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice.
The Spanish tactician faced criticism for this decision following the match, with Gary Neville particularly frustrated by the absence of an attacking threat, notably with new acquisition Eberechi Eze remaining among the substitutes.
However, ex-Manchester City and England defender Lescott doesn't believe Arteta and Arsenal deserve condemnation for their approach to the Liverpool clash, arguing their methodology was appropriate when facing a title competitor away from home.
"I don't agree with the negative approach talk, I think that was the way that you should go to Anfield," began Lescott, speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet.
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"You don't go to Anfield and think, 'I'm just going to win the way we want to play.' If Arsenal played like that at the Emirates, playing not to lose, then it's different. Away, against your title rivals, you go to their stadium and you think, 'Let's not lose first,' rather than thinking that you're going to win."
Lescott did, however, admit that new signing Eze should have been given a starting berth for the fixture on Merseyside following his £67.5million switch from Crystal Palace last month.
"Eze is that guy. He is the guy," Lescott continued. "He is the marquee signing, everybody knows. If he were to play on the left, right, or in the centre against Liverpool, no one could have argued."
Following the Liverpool loss, Arteta was questioned about his team selection and why he arranged his side in such a fashion. He replied: "Well, that's what we had. Martin Odegaard was injured, Kai cannot play, Merino is a player that is incredible arriving from there.
"We played with three attacking players, two attacking full-backs. After the game, I think it's too easy to say that. We didn't do our game plan to frustrate them, we did it to win it.
"I think we elevated the game and the dominance to a point that they have to raise it, they did, especially from the 60-78, when then you could see that there were no margins in the game.
"When that happens, the game is going to be decided in two ways. One, with an individual error and two, with a magic moment. You cannot dominate Anfield for 95 minutes, and it changed in various ways, especially because we made the right decision when our keeper got the ball in their hands.
"We started to rush it, the turnovers we didn't manage them so well, so we could never glide as a team, and they were able to create those moments without really creating any situations of danger."
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