Mikel Arteta has rued his side’s failure to hold out against Liverpool after pinpointing the moment Arsenal should have ‘killed’ the game at Anfield.
The Gunners raced into a deserved 2-0 lead at Anfield thanks to goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus before the half-hour mark.
However, their deficit was halved shortly before half-time by Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino scored an 88th minute equaliser, which came following a dominant second half performance from the home side.
Liverpool could and should have won the game in the final stages, when Aaron Ramsdale somehow kept out Salah and Ibrahima Konate.
In the end, Arsenal were grateful for a point but Arteta says his side had the ‘game in their hands’ at 2-0 and should have ‘killed’ Liverpool at that point.
‘I imagine for the outside world it was a great game to watch. We started really well,’ said Arteta.
‘Just before half-time we conceded and we gave Liverpool some momentum.
‘We lost control and started to give a lot of balls away. The game became open. We needed resilience, we needed our keeper in the last moment. I think a draw is a fair result.
‘The crowd got going. The goal gave them some hope. At 2-0 we had the game in our hands.
‘That was our chance to kill the game. Then we made a mistake. We had to show our resilience and our luck at times.’
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