Arsenal Dominates City, but Draws: Arteta Defends Strategy

Arteta Defends Team Selection Despite Draw Against Manchester City

Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s technical director, defended his team’s selection in the 1-1 draw against Manchester City, stating that his team “completely dominated” the game, despite not achieving a complete victory after recording record possession against Pep Guardiola’s team. Arsenal are now five points behind leaders Liverpool after a late goal from Gabriel Martinelli rescued a draw at the Emirates, following Erling Haaland’s opener for City. Arteta’s team was so dominant that it recorded 67.2% possession during the 90 minutes, the highest percentage ever recorded against a team managed by Guardiola.

Despite leaving key players like Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Martinelli on the bench, Arteta rejected suggestions that his starting lineup lacked ambition.

I leave it to you [to decide], but there were many offensive players on that team.

Mikel Arteta

Arteta added: “It’s easy to say that, but we started the match very well and dominated completely. City scored a goal and then did nothing. Everyone tries to give their best to get a result, that’s fine. We controlled the game and dominated, and the second half was the same. I am extremely proud of my players and the team, but very disappointed with the result. The pride I feel is that we dominated the game.” Regarding striker Viktor Gyökeres, Arteta commented that the reason he didn’t manage a shot against City was that his team couldn’t find the key pass for the Swedish international.

“There were many very good balls in the area and he [Gyökeres] was very close to them. Against City, it’s very difficult to get clear chances. There were many situations, the opportunities were there, but the final pass was missing.” Despite Arsenal being five points behind Liverpool, Arteta is confident that his players will be “fine” in the title race. “We can’t control that. They [Liverpool] win every game. It’s going to be very difficult, but if we play at this level, like we did against Manchester City, we’ll be fine.”