Mikel Arteta has defended his team selection against Manchester City, arguing: “Nobody asked me about the midfield-three in Bilbao”.
Arsenal claimed a point against City on Sunday after Gabriel Martinelli scored in the dying moments of the game at Emirates Stadium.
Before that, Pep Guardiola’s side had looked on course for victory after Erling Haaland’s early goal.
Arsenal struggled to create during the first half, mustering one shot on target, and Arteta hooked Mikel Merino for Eberechi Eze at the break.
Arteta had elected to pair Merino alongside Declan Rice in midfield, with Martin Zubimendi sat just behind them.
And asked if that was ‘safety first’ starting XI, with Eze and Ethan Nwaneri on the bench, Arteta said: “I’ll leave that to you. But for me it’s a lot of attacking players in that team, yeah.”
I think it’s very clear what we wanted to do, and we started the game very well, I think we completely dominated.
Pressed on the midfield selection, in particular, Arteta said: “I thought it was the best one to start the game. Nobody asked me about the midfield three in Bilbao.”
The Gunners were better in the second half, with the introduction of Bukayo Saka and Eze driving them forward.
Arteta, however, disagreed with the view that the double change was a sign he got his initial team selection wrong.
“It’s too easy to say that,” he said. “I think it’s very clear what we wanted to do, and we started the game very well, I think we completely dominated.
“I think after they scored the goal, doing absolutely nothing before that, we were a bit shaky for five or seven minutes and after that we got the grip of the game again and started to dominate it, and the second half it was a continuation of that, with one different player and then with two or three different players.”
Martinelli’s late goal rescued a point for Arsenal and it was the second time this week he came off the bench to score.
“He’s in a really good moment again after the game he had in Bilbao and that period of time probably he deserved more,” said Arteta.
“But his energy again, his attitude was really good and that’s why he made the impact that he made again for the team.”
