Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger has stated that he feels a draw was a "fair" result following their two-all draw at Liverpool on Sunday, but admitted his frustration at seeing his side concede a 97th-minute equaliser.

The Gunners had been ahead after goals from French duo Mathieu Debuchy and Olivier Giroud cancelled out Philippe Coutinho's first-half opener, but were pegged back by Martin Škrtel's header deep into a mammoth ten minutes of injury time.

Wenger was disappointed by his side's display in the first-half, and suggested that memories of their 5-1 drubbing at Anfield last season could have had an effect on his players. "Maybe bad memories played a part," he said. "Some players weren't at their best. We played with the handbrake on a little bit in the first half especially."

Having been asked whether he felt his side deserved all three points, Wenger continued: "No because they came back.

"Overall I think once they were down to 10 men we were not dangerous anymore.

"We conceded a corner that was a bit unlucky and where we were guilty was that we didn't jump at all with Škrtel. Of course, from then on we conceded so it became 2-2.

"Overall it's a fair result over the whole 90 minutes, but it's a frustrating result for us, because they came back at a moment in the game where we had plenty of defenders on the pitch and could defend the set piece much better."

The draw means Arsenal go into Christmas in sixth place in the Premier League, twelve points behind leaders Chelsea who have a game in hand. London derbies against QPR and high-flying West Ham will then conclude the year for Wenger and his men.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Sam France
Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Features Editor at VAVEL UK, part of the VAVEL team 2014-2018.