Every word Mikel Arteta said on Arsenal defeat to Liverpool, line-up and William Saliba injury

Mikel Arteta faced the media following a painful 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. Despite having the better first half than their opponents, they were unable to take the few chances that they did create.

William Saliba was lost to injury in the opening minutes of the game, but Cristhian Mosquera came in and deputised well in the Frenchman's stead. Eberechi Eze did come on to make his debut and looked very exciting, which, despite the loss, will be a positive to focus on.

The game was separated by a moment of magic as Dominik Szoboszlai slammed in a free-kick from a ridiculous range. The Gunners will now spend the international break lamenting the missed opportunities of the fixture.

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Here is every word that Mikel Arteta said after the defeat to Liverpool:

On William Saliba and his injury?

He twisted his ankle during the warm-up, and he came in and he said he believed that he could carry on and play but he strayed away in the first two actions. I could see that he couldn't cope and we had to get him out, unfortunately. But thanks God we have Mosquera, which we put in for the first time in the Premier League, his debut, not expecting it at Anfield and I think he was really, really good.

Overall, did you feel that the game plan to maybe frustrate and take your time until you could get a goal was going well up a point?

We didn't do our game plan to frustrate them, we did it to win it. I think we elevated the game and the dominance to a point that they have to raise it, they did, especially from the 60-78, when then you could see that there were no margins in the game and then when that happens the game is going to be decided in two ways. One, with an individual error and two, with a magic moment. So we created a moment that was incredible, that has won the game and that was the difference, nothing else.

In the first half, you had a lot more joy than Liverpool in terms of turnovers, chances, touches in the box, but it was also the half where you perhaps had less of your offensive attacking players in the team. Do you feel as though, in hindsight, that the midfield was maybe slightly too conservative for the chances that you created?

Well, that's what we had. Martin Odegaard was injured, Kai cannot play, Merino is a player that is incredible arriving from there. We played with three attacking players, two attacking full-backs. After the game, I think it's too easy to say that.

That was about the position of Declan Rice, a little bit behind compared to the usual. Why did you decide to play him in that position and what did you see from him?

Because we believed it was the best thing, especially the way we had to attack and the way they pressed to him to get him in this position.

Are you worried about William's injury?

Well, I am because you cannot play a game of that stature. After you try, that means that there is something wrong.

Why do you think the game changed in the second half?

Because this is Anfield and at some point it's going to change. You cannot dominate Anfield for 95 minutes, and it changed in various ways, especially because we made the right decision when our keeper got the ball in their hands. We started to rush it, the turnovers we didn't manage them so well, so we could never glide as a team, and they were able to create those moments without really creating any situations of danger.