Arsene Wenger has urged is players to “transform their frustration into motivation” for the tough game at Stoke on Sunday.
A late Joe Allen goal denied the Gunners all three points at Anfield on a frantic night in which Liverpool twice took the lead, only for Arsenal to peg them back and hold a 3-2 advantage with minutes remaining.
Allen’s strike at the death led Wenger to declare via the club’s official website, his annoyance to miss out on a what would have been a huge win to extend their margin at the top of the table.
I’m frustrated by the result but not by the performance even if we were a bit apprehensive.
I feel in the first 20 minutes we were a bit on the back foot and we came back in a convincing way. 2-1 down we have shown character and scored after 2-2 and 3-2.
The frustration comes from the fact that I think at 3-2, we had three situations where we should have made it 4-2 and we made a bad decision. That is the frustration tonight and the fact we conceded a goal in the last minute.
Instead, it lets Leicester draw level on 43 points in first place. Olivier Giroud grabbed two goals after Aaron Ramsey scored to make it 1-1 at a rainy Anfield.
The Frenchman bagged his 11th and 12th goals of the season and Wenger, tinged with disappointment he didn’t grab his 13th, cited how crucial his centre-forward was.
He [Giroud] had more chances but it was a positive performance overall.
It was not easy for him many times and he was exposed to a very physical battle up front and had to protect the ball and fight against the centre backs at long balls.
He was very precious for us tonight.
Arsenal have another big game on Sunday at a ground they typically struggle – the Britannia Stadium. Wenger wants his players to convert their disappointment at conceding late into a big display in Staffordshire.
They need to transform the frustration they have in the dressing room at the moment to even more motivation for the next game.
There is a lot of positives in the game and there is more positives than negatives in the game. I think what happened tonight should strengthen their belief that they have a big part to play in this league.
The Arsenal boss is hoping to be able to call upon fit-again Alexis Sanchez, and new-boy Mohamed Elneny for that game, who he confirmed will sign this week.
I will be cautious now. There is an opportunity that he will be in the squad for Sunday. He will have a definite test on Saturday and Friday and Saturday will be two important days for him. It is not impossible that he will be involved.
Elneny will join us. We will see if he can qualify for Sunday.
