Mikel Arteta lauded the spirit of his Arsenal side after the Gunners battled to a goalless draw against Liverpool at Anfield.
Granit Xhaka was sent off midway through the first half in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final on Thursday, having lunged in high on Diogo Jota.
It is the fifth time Xhaka has been sent off since he made his Arsenal debut in 2016-17, more than any other Premier League player in that time.
Yet without key men Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, who are with Senegal and Egypt respectively at the Africa Cup of Nations, Liverpool faltered in front of goal and failed to make their numerical advantage count.
Curtis Jones' stoppage-time effort was the Reds' only shot on target, with that attempt coming after Aaron Ramsdale had gifted Takumi Minamino (who had six attempts in total) a golden chance, only for the Japan forward to blaze it high over a gaping goal.
Based on Opta's expected goals (xG) model, Minamino's chance was the second best opportunity of the match – an xG value of 0.384 (a 38.4 per cent likelihood of scoring) – though Bukayo Saka had the best sighting of goal when his close-range effort (0.402 xG) was smothered by Alisson.
Arsenal, who were without regulars Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Thomas Partey, now head into next week's second leg on level pegging, with a place in the final against Chelsea on the line at Emirates Stadium.
"They showed great fight, determination, attitude, brotherhood," Arteta told Sky Sports.
"You could see the determination with which they were playing, they never gave up, it's extremely difficult in this situation against this opponent. Great credit to the boys.
"I don't know if it [the sending off] inspired them, but they certainly took the fight and I said to them before the game that you have to have a certain attitude to play in this ground, in difficult moments you have to act, you cannot be reactive because then it gets really complicated and I think the boys adapted really well in certain moments.
"We played the game that we had to play, not the game we wanted to play but the game we had to."
Arsenal performed well against Manchester City on New Year's Day, only to go down to Rodri's late winner in a game in which the Gunners were again reduced to 10 men – Gabriel Magalhaes sent off on that occasion. Since Arteta took charge in December 2019, his side have received 13 red cards in all competitions, five more than any other Premier League side in this period.
The Gunners then slumped out of the FA Cup on Sunday, losing to Championship side Nottingham Forest 1-0, but Arteta suggested inconsistency was merely a symptom of a largely inexperienced side.
He said: "It's really difficult to explain, you see the performance against City where we probably deserved more, we played with 10 men then we play Forest and it was completely different.
"Today we got the level back and did what we had to do. It's an extremely young team, sometimes that inconsistency is going to happen."
Arsenal have now avoided defeat in four of their last eight away games in which they have been shown a red card in all competitions, though injuries to Bukayo Saka and Cedric Soares further complicated matters ahead of Sunday's north London derby clash with Tottenham.
"The motivation to play a derby brings the energy when you don’t have it, no excuses we're going to play the game now in the best possible way," Arteta added.
Malacia makes Man Utd comeback after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Malacia makes injury comeback for Under-21s after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Taylor pleased with Man City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
Laura Blindkilde Brown and Aoba Fujino were on target in the second half at the Joie Stadium, moving them three points clear at the top of Group D.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
The hosts dominated for large parts of the encounter, ending with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.75 from their 16 shots, while also accumulating 73.6% possession.
But Taylor was happy with his side's display and explained the physical test against the Swedish champions was something his players will benefit from moving forward.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad.
Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the Women's Super League, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
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