Arsenal ‘completely dominated’ Man City despite draw – Arteta

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta said his team completely dominated Manchester City despite a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. Erling Haaland scored an early goal in the ninth minute to put the tourists in front.

However, the Gunners were able to take one point out of the game when Gabriel Martinelli scored in the stoppage time. The home team dominated the possession with 67% and took 12 shots, including three on target.

“I leave that to you [to decide],” Arteta told reporters when asked if his team lacked ambition against City. But there was a lot of attacking players in that team.

“It’s easy to say that [we lacked ambition], but we started the game very well and completely dominated. “City scored a goal and then did nothing. Everybody tries to do best to get a result, that’s fine.

“But we controlled the game and dominated and the second-half was the same.

“I’m extremely proud of my players and team, but very disappointed with the result. The pride I feel is that we dominated the game.

“One City chance is a corner, another is a counter-attack and the other is a giveaway. That’s it. To keep City to just that, chapeau to the boys.”

Meanwhile, forward Viktor Gyökeres failed to take a single shot at the target, but the Spaniard backed the striker.

“There was a lot of very good balls in the box and he [Gyökeres] was very close to them,” Arteta said. “Against City, it is very difficult to get clear chances.

“There were a lot of situations, the chances were there, but the final pass was missing.”

Arteta said Arsenal will be in the title race if they continue to play at the same level, like they did against the Cityzens.

“We cannot control that. They [Liverpool] win every match,” Arteta said. “It’s going to be very difficult but if we play at this level, like we did against Manchester City, we will be fine.”

Arsenal will next take on Port Vale in the third round of the EFL Cup on Wednesday.