Arteta unsure on severity of Gabriel, Timber injuries as Arsenal held by Liverpool

Mikel Arteta is unsure on the severity of the injuries sustained by Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber as Arsenal twice surrendered the lead in a 2-2 draw with title rivals Liverpool on Sunday.

Bukayo Saka and Mikel Merino were on target for the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium but Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah both equalised to ensure Arne Slot’s men would leave with a point.

There was a noticeable shift in momentum when Arsenal, already without the suspended William Saliba, lost Gabriel and Timber to injuries after the break.

Asked by Sky Sports for an update after the game, Arteta said: ” Well I don’t know exactly what happened (with Timber) but he said he cannot carry on and big Gabi as well, so I don’t know.”

Prompted on Gabriel specifically, he said: “I don’t know.”

The points are shared in north London pic.twitter.com/uBZfXwHLAd

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 27, 2024

Arteta felt his side were the better side even accounting for the injuries, adding: “Even with the changes I thought we were the better team, we deserved to win the game.

“But obviously we didn’t so there are learnings to take from that especially when we concede both goals, the second one the transition moment, we ended up in the final third then 10 seconds later we are two-on-one in our box at this level against this team, obviously you cannot give this away.”

Saka acknowledged that losing Gabriel was a momentum shifter in the game but said the incident cannot be used as an excuse by the Gunners, who are now five points off leaders Manchester City in third place.

“Yeah of course he’s a big player for us, that’s not an excuse we have to adapt and do our best whoever’s on the pitch,” he said.

“It’s (the mood in the dressing room) a bit disappointed, credit to Liverpool they’re a good team but we just felt like we didn’t show our best selves for the full 90 minutes.”

Saka had also missed the past two matches with injury and he was chomping at the bit to be involved.

“I hate missing games, it was really frustrating to be on the side watching, I just had this game on my mind. I was happy to be back out there today.”