Mikel Arteta has played down criticism of Granit Xhaka after his squabble with Trent Alexander-Arnold was credited with firing up Liverpool in their 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday.
The Gunners made a brilliant start to the match and went two goals up thanks to strikes from Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus, with Liverpool looking disorganised and brittle at the back.
But shortly before half-time, Xhaka was involved in a confrontation with Alexander-Arnold, trusting an elbow towards the full-back before squaring up to him.
Both players were shown a yellow card and a previously quiet Anfield suddenly ignited, with Mohamed Salah then halving the deficit moments later.
Liverpool enjoyed near total dominance from that point onwards, missing a penalty and a host of great chances – with Aaron Ramsdale producing some fine stops – but did eventually net an equaliser through Roberto Firmino.
Afterwards, Jamie Carragher was one of many pundits to criticise Xhaka for firing up both the Liverpool players and the crowd, branding him ‘absolutely idiotic’, though Arteta was not convinced it was that big a factor.
Asked if the Xhaka incident contributed to Liverpool’s comeback, Arteta replied: ‘I don’t know if that’s the case.
‘We had a big chance after that. If we score 3-0, maybe the crowd doesn’t get too excited.
‘But after that, they scored a goal and that changes the momentum and the hope.
‘But still we have to come out in the second half and we have to play more and that’s the lesson. The lesson is: stick to what we did in the first half, play with our personalities, our way of playing.
‘That’s the way we have to continue to play and if we do that we will win a lot of games.’
Asked if the result feels like two points dropped or one point gained given how desperately they had to hang on at the end, Arteta replied: ‘When you concede at the end, always drop two points.
‘Because you have it and you are suffering but you rely on certain moments and the feeling is, “Ah, we should have done it.”
‘But being fair to ourselves, they had four big chances and they could have scored, and they missed a penalty. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and we should have done much better in the second half.’
MORE : Arsenal should be ‘delighted’ after Liverpool draw, insists Roy Keane
MORE : Jamie Carragher slams ‘absolutely idiotic’ Granit Xhaka for aiding Liverpool comeback
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