Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini believes Arsenal were happy “to settle for a draw” in their Champions League stalemate on Thursday night.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had goalkeeper David Raya to thank after his side avoided defeat in Bergamo in their Champions League opening fixture.
Raya denied Mateo Retegui from the penalty spot and showed incredible reflexes to save the Italian’s rebounded header to keep the score goalless.
The Gunners failed to create many clear-cut chances and were fortunate to leave Italy with a point.
Speaking after the draw, Arteta said: “We started the game really well. I think in the first 20-25 minutes we were really dominant against a man-to-man team which is very, very specific and difficult to play against.
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“I think we read the game really well and were on top of the game.
“Suddenly we started to be very, very inconsistent with the ball. We started to give every ball away, very simple balls, and we lost control of the game.
“We didn’t suffer defensively at all, but in one action we conceded a penalty and we needed two of the best saves that I’ve seen in my career from David to stay in the game.”
Atalanta manager Gasperini has insisted that Arsenal were happy to draw the match and that his side “had a better chance” of winning the game.
“At the end, Arsenal seemed to me to want to settle for a draw, we lacked the play that could have allowed us to win the game,” the Italian said.
“We complimented Arteta. Even tonight, Arsenal showed they are a compact and concrete team. We came out of this game better. We had played some good games recently, but we hadn’t expressed ourselves.
“Today we learned something. It wasn’t easy to beat them, but we had a better chance than them of winning it.”
Meanwhile, Mark Lawrenson thinks Arsenal’s best chance of winning the Premier League this season is if Manchester City striker Erling Haaland gets injured.
He said: “Even if Manchester City beat Arsenal at the weekend, I don’t think it means that they’ll have one hand on the Premier League trophy because as brilliant as Erling Haaland has been so far this season, if he gets injured, I don’t know who would come in to replace him.
“In the last few games, City have looked quite shaky at the back and have made quite a few mistakes, so I think that will give Arsenal a chance this season.”
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