Arteta Defends Xhaka After Arsenal’s Draw with Liverpool as he Responds to Criticism

April 10, 2023Last Updated: April 10, 2023

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Mikel Arteta has defended Granit Xhaka after his spat with Trent Alexander-Arnold was credited with sparking Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday.

The Gunners dominated the first half, going two goals up thanks to goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus, with Liverpool looking disorganized and brittle at the back.

Xhaka, however, was involved in a clash with Alexander-Arnold shortly before halftime, trusting an elbow towards the full-back before squaring up to him.

Both players were shown yellow cards, and an otherwise quiet Anfield erupted, with Mohamed Salah halving the deficit moments later.

From that point on, Liverpool dominated, missing a penalty and a slew of great chances – with Aaron Ramsdale making some fine saves – but eventually equalizing through Roberto Firmino.

Following the game, Jamie Carragher was among many pundits to criticize Xhaka for inciting both the Liverpool players and the crowd, branding him ‘absolutely idiotic,’ though Arteta was skeptical.

When asked if the Xhaka incident aided Liverpool’s comeback, Arteta said, ‘I don’t know if that’s the case.

‘We had a great opportunity after that. If we win 3-0, maybe the crowd won’t get too excited. But then they scored a goal, which changes the momentum and hope.

‘But we still have to come out in the second half and play more,’ says the coach. The lesson is to stick to what we did in the first half, to experiment with our personalities and styles of play.

‘That is how we must continue to play, and if we do, we will win a lot of games.’

When asked if the result feels like two points dropped or one point gained given how desperately they had to hang on at the end, Arteta replied, “When you concede at the end, always drop two points.”

‘Because you have it and you are suffering but you rely on certain moments and the feeling is, “Ah, we should have done it.”

‘But being fair to ourselves, they had four big chances and they could have scored, and they missed a penalty. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and we should have done much better in the second half.’