We extended our lead at the top of the table to six points, despite failing to breakdown a resolute Liverpool side at Emirates Stadium on Thursday.
In a game of few chances we prevented Liverpool from having a single shot on target, but didn’t create enough ourselves at the other end to earn a victory.
But the draw it made it eight games unbeaten in all competitions, after an intense Christmas and New Year period where we have regularly been playing twice a week.
After the game Mikel Arteta was left to rue a missed opportunity, but praised the team for their efforts lately.
“Well, we’re disappointed because we wanted to win the game,” he said. “But I think overall, with the domination and the situations that we created in the first half, we should have come out of that in a winning position, and that’s the margins in this game.
“You’re not going to dominate the whole game against the champions, because they are a really good side.
“But when we have them there and created a situation where we’re having the best spaces to put the ball, find somebody and put the ball in the back of the net, and we didn’t do it.
“Then in the second half, we were very inconsistent with the ball, losing balls that were very unusual for us – I don’t know if they were the conditions, the fatigue, whatever it is – and then we struggled more to have the right structure and be in distances that we can press them.
“If you cannot win it, at least we get a point, and I think the boys deserve a massive praise for what they’ve done in this Christmas period to get the results and the performances consistently in the manner that we’ve done it to come out from this period in a really strong position.”
After a period when all of the teams have dropped points over the heavy schedule, we have opened up a six-point gap at the top of the table, and we remain unbeaten at home this season.
“On paper you play every two or three days, and it’s really tough. And the demands that we have to win every single game, and the opponents that we played. Huge congratulations to the players for what they’ve done in this period; how they maintain the desire and focus throughout this period that you can get very distracted. And you see how tough it is for every team.”
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