Arteta claims Arsenal deserved all three points after Liverpool draw

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta insisted his team had deserved all three points after a 2-2 draw with Liverpool that denied the visitors a return to the top of the Premier League.

Twice the hosts went in front, through Bukayo Saka and Mikel Merino, but twice Liverpool fought back, with goals from Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah – the latter in the dying stages.

The result means that champions Manchester City are top after nine games, one point ahead of Liverpool, who have a four-point gap to Arsenal and Aston Villa. 

“Very proud of the team for the courage and quality in the first half,” said Arteta, who lost defenders Gabriel and Jurrien Timber to injury after the break.

“Then we had to make changes, they came out a little bit and certain particular moments I think dictated the result. Even like this I think we deserved to win the game, we were the better team, so I think there are learnings to take from that.”

Arsenal remain unbeaten against their main title rivals yet, as in the draw at City, may feel they let all three points slip. But Arteta added: “I think the way we played today against the top team in the Premier League at the moment was unbelievable.”

Liverpool manager Arne Slot hailed his team’s powers of recovery after they completed a tough week with a valuable point. 

“They maybe deserved to be one up,” he said. “But what pleased me was that we had one day less to prepare for this match and if I look at how strong we were in the second half, still getting a point is a good feeling.”

Saka opened the scoring just nine minutes into his return to the Arsenal team following injury, cutting inside Andy Robinson and lashing past Caoimhin Kelleher.

Liverpool quickly equalised through captain Van Dijk, who nodded in from close range after Luis Diaz had flicked on a corner at the near post.

But Arsenal regained the lead just before half time when summer signing Merino marked his first home start in the Premier League with a stooping header from a free kick.

Liverpool improved after the break and levelled again in the 81st minute when Darwin Nunez squared for Salah to finished sidefooted past David Raya.