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Mikel Arteta reveals message to Arsenal players after Liverpool draw.
After the 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the title race, Mikel Arteta has urged his team to depend on the talent they displayed in the first half of the match.
Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli both scored for Arsenal throughout the first 30 minutes of play. At the break, Mohamed Salah gave the Gunners a setback with a goal, and Roberto Firmino, a substitute, subsequently equalized in the 87th minute.
To guarantee that they left Anfield with a draw, the Gunners were then left to depend on two incredible stops from goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Arteta revealed that he told his players that they shouldn’t rely on the ‘resilience’ shown late in the game during the closely-fought Premier League title race:
“[We have to] convince them to keep playing like we did in the first 30 minutes. The lesson is not from the second half and the resilience. We don’t want to rely on that, we want to rely on what we did in the first half.”
In addition, Arteta talked about how outstanding his squad was in the opening 30 minutes and acknowledged that the game’s course was altered by a “very poor goal” just before halftime:
“The game was under control but after that we concede a really sloppy goal and the game shifted momentum. We started well in the first few minutes [of the second half] but then lost control. It became a very transitional game, very chaotic.
“Liverpool could score three or four. It is true we could have scored two or three so maybe at the end the score is fair.
“I haven’t seen anyone do it [dominate] in this ground this season. They beat every big team here, they played Real Madrid and could have been four up after 20 minutes. They are going to have moments. You need to deal with them and we did. Our goalkeeper had a big part in that.
“We could taken three points. We should do that [play like the first half] for another 15 minutes and then the game would have taken a very different trajectory. We didn’t. We have to take the point.”
At the top of the Premier League standings, Arsenal is currently six points ahead of Manchester City, who still has a game in hand.