Mikel Arteta and Arsenal were held to a draw at the Emirates Stadium by Liverpool on Sunday. The Gunners now have one point in their last two Premier League games.
Arsenal remain third but have fallen five points behind in the title race despite it being very early in the season.
Bukayo Saka, making his return from injury, scored the first goal of the game after a lovely touch and finish past Kelleher. Van Dijk equalized just nine minutes later from a flick on after a corner.
Mikel Merino put the gunners 2-1 up just before half time from a well worked free kick. Mohammed Salah scored a late equalizer in the 80th minute.
Arsenal fans were frustrated after Anthony Taylor whistled for a foul just before the gunners put the ball in the back of the net. Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk was happy with getting a draw.
Jamie Carragher criticizes Mikel Arteta
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After the game, Jamie Carragher had some few things to say during his analysis on Sky Sports.
The former Liverpool defender said that the Arsenal boss reminded him of former Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho:
“The interesting thing about watching Arsenal, and I have been thinking about this for a long time, because Mikel Arteta worked with Pep Guardiola we have been thinking that he is a Pep Guardiola disciple,”
“But if you think about the two most successful managers in the last 15 years then you have Pep Guardiola over here and Jose Mourinho over here.
“Mikel Arteta is slowing morphing into a Jose Mourinho type of manager. Nobody really thought that was going to happen. Today, they retreated in the second half.”
Carragher then explained his analysis of Mikel Arteta was not criticism, but rather an honest opinion on how Arsenal have evolved as a team.
“This is not a criticism, this is an observation of where Arsenal are at as a team. Maybe it is because Arteta has looked at his attacking players and thought ‘we’re not as good as Manchester City, we have to win the league by being the best team defensively’. And that’s what they were last season and possibly still are.”
“But this idea that Arsenal play great football and he is a Pep Guardiola man, he is not. Just look at the players going down today, the secrecy before the game about who was fit and who wasn’t. It’s all out of the Jose Mourinho playbook.”
On Sunday, Arsenal looked the more likely to score when they had the ball. Bukayo Saka even said it was frustrating that the gunners did not take all three points on the day.
