Arteta denies he got his team selection wrong in Arsenal’s draw with Man City – and reveals injury worry

Mikel Arteta denied that he made the wrong selection for his starting 11 in the draw with Manchester City.

The Arsenal boss opted to make a double change at half-time after going 1-0 down to an Erling Haaland goal, with Ebere Eze and Bukayo Saka replacing Mikel Merino and Noni Madueke.

Gabriel Martinelli also came off the bench to snatch a late equaliser to rescue a point for Arsenal but Arteta insists it is “too simple” to say he should have started with those players who made an impact in the second half.

“It’s too easy to say that I think,” Arteta said.

“I think it’s very clear what we wanted to do. We started the game very well and completely dominated.

“They scored the goal after doing absolutely nothing before that. We were a bit shaky for five or seven minutes and after that we got a grip of the game again and started to dominate it.

“The second half was a continuation of that with one different player and then two or three different players.”

On whether his team selection was too safe, Arteta responded: “I leave that to you but for me, there’s a lot of attacking players in that team.

“I thought it was the best way to start the game.

“Nobody asked me about the midfield three in Bilbao. Nobody. But it’s the same midfield. I believed it was the best thing for the team.”

Arteta also revealed Madueke’s half-time substitution was because of an injury worry.

“He had an issue early in the match and he wasn’t well enough to continue,” he said.

Man City boss Pep Guardiola opted to try and protect his side’s one-goal lead by bringing on several defenders and on the opposition’s approach, Arteta said: “I think everybody tries to do their best to get the result they want. So it’s fine.

“I’m extremely proud of the players and the team. That’s the overall feeling, and I’m very disappointed with the result.”