Arteta insists Arsenal ‘deserved’ to beat Everton for five reasons: ‘We gave nothing away’
Arsenal were deserving of three points against Everton, says Gunners manager Mikel Arteta.
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was the player of the match as Arsenal failed to make their 76 per cent possession count, drawing 0-0 at the Emirates.
The hosts also registered 13 shots and had eight corners but lacked creativity from open play and did not do enough to win the game, while the Toffees could only manage two attempts at goal all afternoon.
Arteta insists his side deserved to beat Everton (they didn’t) and says the only thing missing from their performance was a winning goal.
“I am disappointed not to win the game,” the Spaniard said. “There is only one team that deserves to win and that is Arsenal.
“We gave nothing away – no shots conceded, dominated the play, did not allow them to run, no set-pieces and the high press was excellent.
“We generated chances but you have [to score] with all the dominance. I cannot ask more more from the boys apart from putting the ball in the net. We have to put them away.”
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Arteta raised some eyebrows with the substitutions of Declan Rice and captain Martin Odegaard. He confirmed after the match that Rice asked to come off but Odegaard’s exit was a “tactical decision”.
It was far from Odegaard’s best performance, missing a glorious chance in the first half and struggling to create any chances for his teammates.
“With Declan, I had to take him out because he was feeling something,” said Arteta. “And with Martin it was a tactical decision to try to change their rhythm, especially on that side.
“If Ethan [Nwaneri] comes in and scores a goal, is he a great sub? If he doesn’t, you have taken your captain out. That’s football.
“[His reaction] was the same reaction as [Gabriel] Martinelli, as anybody. I’m sure that they want to continue to play the 90 minutes. But that’s why we have the subs. To try to help the team.”
Meanwhile, Everton manager Sean Dyche believes his side’s resilient defensive display ‘forced’ Arsenal to launch wasteful crosses into the box, which were often met by James Tarkowski’s head.
“You have to know how to work it without the ball. It’s difficult at these grounds to think you’ll have the ball therefore you have to do the other things well,” Dyche said after the impressive draw.
“These [Arsenal] a fine side, we know that. They often dominate the ball, they often dominate chances, I don’t think we gave them too many. Jordan made a big save to his left.
“The players put a big shift in. The commitment to doing the basics as I call it, pressing and recovering and staying true to it for 90 minutes. I was proud of the players.
“They ask questions, they probe, in the end they tried to cross it to force something which shows how defensively solid we were.
“It’s another step in the right direction, we’ve had many this season. We know we’ve got to score more goals but you’ve got to get one part of it right and we didn’t do it early in the season and we have done it over the last 10, 11, 12 games.”
Dyche added: “I’m pleased for the players and the way we went about it but it wasn’t just one thing – there are lots of different things they can hurt you in other ways.
“But the way we formatted it, I was really pleased with that, as a staff, but the players’ delivery was the biggest credit.”
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