Mikel Arteta provides five reasons Arsenal ‘deserved’ to beat Everton

Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal deserved to beat Everton on Sunday after "dominating" the Toffees.

Arsenal managed 77% possession and 13 shots on goal, but created just one big chance as they once again struggled to create from open play, with Everton all too happy to sit deep and frustrate their opponents en route to a 0-0 draw.

It was a missed opportunity for Arsenal to close the gap to Liverpool, who slumped to their own surprise draw with Fulham, and Arteta argued the final result was unfair on his side.

"We generated the chances, but the last 20 metres was missing to score goals, which is what you have to do with all the dominance because we have never been able to dominate it that way. But at the end you have to try to generate the highest winning probability. Now that you draw the game, you want more. Even if we win it, we always want more. But I cannot ask much more to the boys apart from putting the ball in the net."

Arteta went on to admit teaching players how to create those crucial moments in front of goal is not a particularly easy task.

"That's difficult," he said. "At the end you need the spark and you need to be precise.

"I mean, we had the chances, this could have been two or three nil, and nobody's talking about it. The reality is 0-0, and they're not going to talk about all the incredible things that the team did in the game.

"I mean, certainly, it's not energy. When I see my team track-back, it's unbelievable. Every three days, 70 metres, all the team is going there. So very difficult to ask them something else because they want it."

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