Every word Mikel Arteta said on Crystal Palace, Arsenal's 13 draws and Thomas Partey contract

Arsenal were held to a frustrating draw with Crystal Palace, which was all of their own making and particularly William Saliba’s. A major error for the second time in three matches will not be a statistic Mikel Arteta will be keen on.

It was clear the Spaniard was very unhappy with the result, the performance and the state of his team with Mikel Merino unable to take part in the game. There was also an answer to a question on Thomas Partey’s future with news dropping pre-match surrounding a potential new deal.

Here is every word from the press conference as Arteta faced the media.

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Thoughts on the game.

Yeah, disappointed with the results and with the performance as well. I think we never got the consistency in many areas to completely dominate the game. We always had the feeling that yeah, we had the ball, we had possession, we went in front twice, but the game wasn't grabbed, it wasn't dominated and controlled in the way that we normally do because we were below the standards in some areas. When you are not at your best but you are two times ahead, you have to be able to see the game off, and we weren't able to do it, especially with what happened in the second goal.

That PSG game is obviously just looming. Do you think that was in the minds of the players? I know you wouldn't want it to be, but do you think it was?

Hopefully not, but we discussed that before each week, and it wasn't there. Today we had still six days to prepare the match and I don't want to use that. Obviously, we have missed a lot of players, a lot of players that haven't trained at all, that weren't able to do today, so we've been very short. But as well, credit to Palace, they are very well organised, they are a really good side and they made it difficult for us and the reality as well that today we weren’t at our best.

That's the 13th draw in the league, I know you've missed a lot of key players and had some difficult circumstances, but is there a particular reason you think you've had so many draws this season?

Well, we haven't been able to see the games off for many reasons, and the margins have been too small. Sometimes that's when I credit to the opposition, it's true that we played five times with ten men. There are a lot of factors, but obviously it's something that we've done much better in the past, especially when we've been ahead in games, and today, without really much happening, especially in the second half, we have to be able to see the game off.

I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the Martinelli goal that was disallowed, whether the ball was off or not, did you have a good view of it?

No, it took a long time but I haven't seen the replay yet, so I don't know exactly why the decision was.

And just in terms of the draws, is it a valuable lesson for next season, if you're going for a title you just can't draw as many games as it is?

Yeah, or lose. I mean, you have to win a certain amount of games, and at some points, we have only lost three games, two of them with ten men, so we have to win many more.

Sorry to mention this, Mikel, but having spent so much of the season looking at Liverpool and who's in front, are you now a little bit concerned about maybe what's behind and trying to stay in second? Because it's a difficult period of the season with the Champions League and the remaining games to play, and there are other teams on the hunt too.

We always look because we know how tough it is to win football matches in the Premier League and especially with the amount of numbers and the amount of games that we have, we're going to have to be really good in both competitions to end the right way we want to end up.

Does finishing second mean a lot to you?

We'll see when we finish, we have to do everything that we can game by game.

Mikel, what was the issue with Mikel Merino and Ben White and are you hopeful that they'll be all right for Tuesday?

Yeah, we'll have to wait and see, they weren't able to be in the squad today.

Can I ask you as well about Leo, obviously he didn't start either of those legs against Real Madrid but he's responded, he's got four goals in his last four league games, how impressed have you been with that reaction and how much is he now pushing to start?

Very good, I think he's been a very consistent player for us, whether playing as a nine, as a winger, starting or being a sub and that's what you want from a player, he's always ready, he's always fit and he can make the difference in any moment, that's the best thing about Leo.

Obviously, you've had these two games with Ipswich and now this game, do you feel like you've got a good idea in your mind about how you might set up for that game next week with those two experiences?

Without understanding who is available at the moment, very difficult.

There were some fresh reports just before this game around Thomas Partey's future and his contract, is there any update in that and do you want him to stay?

I already gave the update the other day and I think it's not for me to give any more information about that.