‘You have a feeling something will happen’

With the game still goalless on the hour mark, Mikel Arteta turned to his bench to find a breakthrough, and his winter signing Leandro Trossard repaid him almost instantly.

The forward who arrived from Brighton last month put us ahead with a far post finish within five minutes of his introduction – his first goal for the club. His manager was delighted with the 28 year old’s contribution.

“This is what we see every single day in training,” Arteta told Arsenal Media after the game.

“I think the contribution he’s had in the game, with the minutes that he has played, has been really good. And it’s great to have a player that when you put them in the game, you have a feeling that something is going to happen. He brings a lot of courage when the game is like this, to take the ball and go for it.”

Overall though the boss said he was ‘frustrated and disappointed’ at the final whistle. “Yes, because we wanted the three points,” he said.

“We made the most difficult thing which was going ahead, scoring against a team which was super low and with a lot of players committed in the by-line. After a while we just had to continue to dominate the game and go for the second one.

“During that period, we conceded an unfortunate and unnecessary free kick, at least in terms of the set play. The way they play, everything is set plays, and then you need to apply the principles within the rules to be as efficient as possible.”

Attention now immediately switches to Wednesday night, and a potentially pivotal clash with second-placed Manchester City.

“We need to move on really quickly in the league,” the boss added.

“There were a lot of things we did really well today and there are things that we have to improve on and do better, but it will be a completely different game against City.

“We need to move to the next page, ask our people to be with us because we’re going to need them, and we’re going to have to create an incredible atmosphere on Wednesday.”