Every word from Arteta's post-Liverpool presser | Press conference ...

There were plenty of hot topics after our eventful Premier League clash with Liverpool ended in a 2-2 draw at Emirates Stadium.

After the game Mikel Arteta faced the media in his post-match press conference, and he was asked about the result, dealing with injuries, Bukayo Saka and the state of play at the top of the table.

Here’s a full transcript…
 

On the context of the draw after being ahead twice… 
I’m very proud of the team especially with the situation that we are going through at the moment, and probably cannot imagine. But overall I think, especially first half, it was a total domination, we were really, really good, really sharp, really efficient, really determined and the result should’ve been bigger. Without conceding anything, basically we gave two goals away which is the disappointing part. And the fact we couldn’t see the game off, especially looking at ourselves, the two things that we didn’t do particular well and obviously about other aspects.
 

On whether a goal was unfairly ruled out…
I prefer not to comment.
 

On the impact of the changes to backline…
I don’t know, it’s what it is, we had five injuries in the backline, we have to adapt to it, we’ll continue to adapt, it’s a situation that we have, support them, praise the players because the courage they played today was unbelievable and keep going. 
 

On his feeling about the result after injuries…
Yeah really disappointed we haven’t won the game today, I think we were better but especially because in two things that we had to do a lot better we didn’t and some other stuff obviously.
 

On Saka’s consistency…
It’s his consistency and the fact that he’s very young as well and he’s been very lucky with injuries so hopefully he continues to be there, but after a few weeks off, the way he played and competed was exceptional. I think we had some big, big individual performances in the team.
 

On whether it was a risky starting Timber…
We’ve done everything that we possibly could to accelerate that process, and he was so willing, the team, the medical staff have done amazing work and we gave ourselves the chance to compete. I don’t know the extent of the injury if there is one, the same with Big Gabi.
 

On an incident with Havertz and van Dijk…
I haven’t seen the replay.
 

On if Arsenal are experiencing bad luck…
No, this is football, circumstances are going to make us better and they are making us better. So if we were able to be where we are and competing the manner that we do, I see the team I have no doubts, three days before I told you we are going to be flying on Sunday, and we started flying and were the better team by far. But we needed to grab the points today to make a reflection of where we are and where we want to be, we couldn’t do it but for sure we are there.
 

On whether the team ran out of steam in the second half…
I’m more disappointed and frustrated about one thing that we didn’t do, that we had to do in the second half. The physical part we’ll look at all the stats, the stats I know are dropping, we had better stats in the second half in many games especially individually. Some positives like Mikel for example hasn’t played 90 minutes for five months probably since the Euros, or whatever, so a lot of positive things to take and keep on going.
 

On being five points off the top of the table…
Well you don’t want to be in that position, you want to be five points ahead but this is where we are, and again the team it’s alive, the team wants it. I feel it every single day, the players that cannot play they are upset that they are not playing, the ones that get injured, the ones that are there in a good moment, things will turn up and we’ll be in a better place but we are certainly there.
 

On whether he was told why the goal was disallowed…
No, nothing. I’m sure we’ll have some clarity or a letter afterwards, I don’t know.
 

On the one thing that the team didn’t do today…
I keep that for myself.