Mikel Arteta has revealed that Arsenal’s No.1 shirt was never really up for grabs after praising first choice goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Emiliano Martinez left the Gunners this summer after eight years of service, joining Aston Villa for £20m.
The Argentine stopper played an important role in helping Arsenal win the FA Cup and Community Shield.
But was faced with the prospect of returning to back up role with Leno returning from injury.
It was never clear whether Leno or Martinez would be the first choice goalkeeper this season.
But Arteta appears to have put any debate to bed with his latest comments about the issue.
"I really believe in Bernd. I know him really well, I know what people give us,” he said.
"We have to adapt to the circumstances we have. We cannot do everything we want in the market.
"We have some players with value and at some stage we have to make decisions.
"We really liked Emi, we didn't want him to go but it was probably the right thing for both parties to do."
Leno managed to keep a clean sheet at Anfield on Thursday night as Arsenal weathered a storm from Liverpool to come out on top via a penalty shootout.
And Arteta praised the German’s performance as he completed an impressive feat on Merseyside.
"He was really good,” the Spaniard added. “We had some problems on the set pieces on the second and third phases - they had some chances there.
"We had some open chances as well and when we needed Bernd we had him.
"You need top individual performances to win here at Anfield and this is what we had tonight."
