'Gutted' Arteta on Arsenal draw: Can't cry about it

A “gutted” Mikel Arteta has said that Arsenal deserved more from their draw with Fulham on Saturday, but he admitted the quality displayed by the home side at Craven Cottage makes the result easier to accept.

Defender William Saliba rescued a point for Arsenal with from a trademark set-piece in the 52nd minute after Raúl Jiménez had opened the scoring for Fulham in the first half.

“Gutted that we didn’t win it. We fully deserved to win it,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told reporters. “That’s the quality of the opposition, so you cannot cry about it.”

“We generated all the chances but it’s so difficult to attack.”

Arsenal had 70% possession and Bukayo Saka was denied what surely would have been a late winner, but saw his effort ruled out for offside by the video assistant referee.

“We did almost everything that we had to do to win it … For millimetres we could have been here with a really dominant win,” Arteta said.

“It’s never enough if you don’t score three, four or five. If they [opposition sides] play 11 direct balls I want to win 11. We want to win 100%,” he said.

Fulham have been a thorn in Arsenal’s side, getting the better of them last season with a win at home and a draw at the Emirates.

But Arteta defended his makeshift back line on Sunday when asked if they would have conceded the early goal to Jiménez had injured defender Gabriel Magalhães been available.

“I cannot promise you with different personnel it wouldn’t happen. Sometimes you have to praise the opposition,” he said.

“We had to change the whole unit. That’s it, they [injured players] are not available. We have to respond to that, and I’m very happy with the way they did,” he said, praising defender Jakub Kiwior in particular who stood in for the missing Gabriel.

The draw meant Arsenal remained third in the table, two points behind Chelsea and six behind league leaders Liverpool.