Virgil van Dijk pokes fun at Arsenal's injury crisis after Liverpool draw

Virgil van Dijk by claiming it "only had two" despite comments during the week.

The Gunners were without five first-team stars ahead of Tuesday's victory over Shakhtar Donetsk after being forced off during the game, , Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard on the sidelines.

Arteta remained incredibly tight-lipped in the lead up to this weekend's clash, refusing to give anything away in order to protect the secrecy of his game plan and tactics, .

However, after being surprising - or perhaps unsurprising - inclusions in starting lineup, something was keen to point out in his post-match interview.

The Gunners, however, , so when Gabriel went down injured, things looked bleak for Arteta's side - but Liverpool's captain was having none of it.

"Another player injured?" Van Dijk smirked on Sky Sports when asked whether Arsenal's mentality had changed due to "another injury" in the form of Gabriel. "Well, I think they only had two injuries today didn't they? (Calafiori and Odegaard) Obviously they played a very, very strong team."

While the Gunners were actually without four players through injury, defenders Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney aren't quite on the same level as their other team-mates, having made just one appearance between them this season.

But with such a strong squad at his disposal, Arteta was hardly up against the odds with Calafiori and Odegaard out injured, being able to call upon the likes of goalscorer Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard as part of alterations in his team that saw Thomas Partey shifted to right-back and Ben White moved into center-back.

If anything, Liverpool had a bigger setback in the form of , instead having to rely on back-up shot stopper to keep the ball out the back of the net.

Then there was first-choice striker Diogo Jota, . Darwin Nunez once again covered for the Portuguese in attack, and played a crucial role as he set up to earn the Reds a point .