Mikel Arteta confident that Arsenal will produce a reaction to the Liverpool draw

Trailing 2-0 on the half hour, they relented just before half time and came under heavy pressure after the break before finally pulling an equalizer on 87 minutes from Roberto Firmino.

That saw their lead at the top dwindle to six points, having played one more game than Manchester City and still having to go to the Etihad in a couple of weeks.

“We’ve been responding for 31 games now. Every day is a test,” said Arteta.

“The test now is how good we will be on Monday and how well we will prepare and play the way we want to to beat West Ham (on Sunday).”

Arsenal were indebted to goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale for a couple of late saves, one with a Mohamed Salah effort around the post and then a scramble from close range to prevent Ibrahima Konate from forcing a shot over the line, to hold on to a point

Arteta was full of praise for the English international.

Liverpool-Arsenal – Premier League – Anfield
Aaron Ramsdale produced two late saves to deny Liverpool a winner (Nick Potts/PA)

“You need your goalkeeper if you want to win and be in a title race,” he said.

“Look how many times Alisson has done for Liverpool what he has to do.

“You need those magical moments from the goalkeeper, we also had some exceptional moments from our forward players, to win on pitches like that.”

Having failed to capitalize on their comfortable advantage to press their lead, Arsenal began to fall back, relying on counter-attacks rather than dominate the game as they had, as Liverpool added to the pressure by pulling back a goal.

Arteta hopes his team can learn from that experience as the title race nears its conclusion.

“If we go 3-0, maybe the crowd won’t get too excited. After that they scored the goal and that changed the momentum and the hope,” he said.

“Even so, in the second half we have to play more. That’s the lesson, stick to what we’ve done in the first half, play with our personalities and that’s the way we have to keep playing.”

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