Mikel Arteta feels Arsenal need to do a better job of ‘killing games’ (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has named the one thing his side must improve in the second half of the season as they look to win the Premier League title.
The Gunners are top of the table at Christmas after they secured a point at Liverpool on Saturday.
Arsenal are looking to land their first top-flight trophy since 2004 having gone agonisingly close last term, with a late capitulation handing it to Manchester City.
Arteta wants to see improvements when the north Londoners return to action, with his team just one point ahead of second-placed Liverpool and third-placed Aston Villa.
‘There are some things we have to improve,’ Arteta said after the 1-1 draw at Anfield.
‘Especially killing games with the amount of dominance that we are showing.
‘Sometimes the results have been too close, where we have had to dig in the last few minutes to maintain results and that is it, nothing else.
Gabriel Magalhaes scored after just four minutes in a 1-1 draw at Anfield (Picture: Getty)
‘Hopefully, we have sustained that level with five key players out because we lost five very, very important players for us for many, many months.
‘The team has still shown that, so that is something we really have to maintain, which is the quality in the squad and how willing they are to do what they do every single day.’
Speaking more generally about Arsenal’s draw at Liverpool, Arteta added: ‘It was an unbelievable game of football, one of the most intense and hectic games that I have witnessed in 20 years in this league.
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‘The quality, the intentions of both teams… It was superb to watch it and we as a team with the boys willing to play at that level, to have the courage to play at that level, the determination and belief to do what we’ve done here, I think my players deserve big, big credit.
‘[Declan Rice, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes] were phenomenal but I think the whole team as well and how we step up to the level that they put today, is one of the best Liverpool’s I’ve seen this year.
‘They made life really difficult. The game became really, really chaotic, the crowd provokes that as well but we handled the situation really well.’
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‘Sometimes the results have been too close.’