Mikel Arteta issues definitive response to Erling Haaland's 'stay humble' jibe after Man City's stunning last-gasp equaliser against Arsenal

That contest ended in the most dramatic of fashions, with reigning Premier League champions City snatching a 98th-minute equaliser through John Stones. Said effort ensured that the game finished 2-2, with Arsenal having spent much of the second half desperately holding on with 10 men – following Leandro Trossard’s dismissal on the stroke of half-time.

Arteta took to the field afterwards, only to be met by a surprising verbal volley from City striker Haaland – who also found himself tangling with ex-Blues star Gabriel Jesus. Arsenal’s Spanish coach has no issue with what was said, telling reporters when being quizzed on the incident: “It’s part of football, part of sport. After the game, all that goes away and we move on. That’s it.”

Emotions were running high at the final whistle - with an action-packed encounter delivering goals, a red card, a devastating injury to Rodri and a stunning finish – but Arteta makes no apologies for the way in which he set his side up to defend a narrow lead. He added: “Well, we had to play the game that we had to play. The first 10, 15 minutes, we couldn’t with 11 vs 11. Then we got much better. Then we were thrown in a very different context and did what every team does. They played 30 seconds with 10 men. Look what they did for 30 seconds. It’s normal what they did. We had to do it in a different way. We learnt from the past. Unfortunately we’ve been in the same situation a few times. We were in that same situation with Granit [Xhaka] after 38 minutes and we lost 5-0. We’d better learn. If not I would be thick, very thick.”

Arteta will always look to defend his players, regardless of what the likes of Haaland may think, and said when delivering his assessment of collective efforts at the Etihad Stadium: “Extremely proud. I think the desire that the team has to compete in any context and to adapt to different ways of playing and handle that emotionally and physically, is superb. Happy? No. But understanding how difficult that context is and what we had to deal with and as well with the players we had out, it was a significant improvement. But not happy because we want to win.”

Arsenal will get an opportunity to return to winning ways when facing Bolton in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, before then putting their unbeaten Premier League record on the line when playing host to newly-promoted Leicester.