Mikel Arteta defends Arsenal midfield selection against Manchester City, says he believed it was ‘best thing for the team’

The result leaves Arsenal in second in the Premier League table on 10 points, five behind leaders Liverpool, while Manchester City sit ninth on seven points.

He said: “Nobody asked me about the midfield three in Bilbao, nobody. It’s the same midfield, because I believe it was the best thing for the team.”

Some pundits suggested that Arsenal had played too conservatively in the first half against Man City given their recent form, and Arteta conceded he was disappointed to come away with just a draw.

“I’m extremely proud of the players and the team. Overall, I’m very disappointed with the result.”

Bukayo Saka was introduced at half-time as the team chased an equaliser, but Arteta rejected that he had got his tactics wrong for the first 45 minutes. Instead, he said most of the opening period had gone well for Arsenal, except for the goal.

He stated: “It’s too easy to say that (our tactics were wrong). I think it’s very clear what we wanted to do. Very well we started the game. We completely dominated.

“I think they scored the goal after doing absolutely nothing before that. We were a bit shaky for five or 10 minutes, and after we still had a grip on the game, we started to dominate it.

“The second half was a continuation of that with one different player, and then with two or three different players.”

Arteta has recently started to discuss substitutes as “finishers” for games, and pressed on the decision to bring goalscorer Martinelli up from the bench, the Spaniard explained why he was called on him with the game drifting, pointing to his goal against Bilbao as a reason to give him another chance.

“We had very good momentum as well,” he began. “He’s in a really good moment and after the game against Bilbao, that period of time he deserved more.

“His energy and attitude was really good and that’s why he made the impact he did for the team.”