Mikel Arteta was left frustrated that we couldn’t capitalise on our most fruitful moments of the north London derby to leave Emirates Stadium with three points.
Tottenham twice came from behind to earn a draw and bring their three-match losing streak against us to an end, but the boss was left rueing some good opportunities that went begging that could have put us further in front and left our rivals chasing the game.
Speaking about whether our performance should have been rewarded with a win, he said: “Well especially when you go up twice, and the moments and the chances that we didn’t make, especially in the first half.
“We wanted more but you have to make the most out of it and we didn’t. The moments where we had dominance of the game and control, we conceded the goals and that was a big, big blow.
“Playing in front of this crowd in a derby doesn’t get much better than that, and I think the players were so excited but sometimes you can be too hyped because then we lacked some composure on the ball to get more control, but we have to take the draw, there is nothing else we can do.”
At half-time Mikel was forced into a double substitution when Declan Rice and Fabio Vieira came off, with Kai Havertz and Jorginho taking their place.
The manager admitted that Declan was taken off as an injury concern, adding: “Declan is not feeling good, he felt something in his back and could not carry on, and Fabio was a tactical decision.
“We had to adapt to it and try in the second half. We scored a goal and it was a huge blow when we conceded straight after.”
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