Mikel Arteta explains shock Arsenal decision against Liverpool as new injury scare revealed

Kai Havertz scored the only goal of the match early in the first half and that proved enough as Arsenal delivered another massive defensive effort.

Tzolis was a surprise inclusion in the starting lineup, having not played a minute since he suffered a hamstring injury while on international duty with Greece a month ago.

Eberechi Eze was only named on the bench, though Arteta revealed after the match that the Englishman had been dealing with an injury concern of his own.

Arteta threw Tzolis straight back into the side and he was impressive at Anfield, working tirelessly and producing moments of real quality in attack.

He forced Alisson into a superb low save and almost created a second Arsenal goal with a lovely cross to the back post.

Selection risk: Mikel Arteta threw Christos Tzolis straight back into the Arsenal team after injury

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Asked what convinced him Tzolis was ready to start, Arteta replied: “It’s the energy that he had in training.

“When I asked him the question, how convinced he was. We had an issue with Ebs [Eze] as well, it was incredible that he was in the squad today.

“I want to give credit to all the medical and performance team. What they are doing with those boys is incredible. Every three days, to keep everybody at this level.

“These are the margins sometimes when you win a football match, whether you have somebody available or not. They deserve that credit.

“With Christos, incredible. He didn’t want to come off, he wanted to complete the game. We took some risks, but at a point we decided enough was enough.”

The Gunners were knocked out on penalties in that tie and were punished for an incredibly wasteful display, but Arteta was able to inspire his players to quickly put that behind them.

He said: “It was a feeling of ‘how the hell can that happen?’

“How you can go out of the cup when you shoot 27 times, we had the chances that we had against a team that put one shot on target. Then you look so silly.

“You have to go to Anfield and say, ‘how can I lift those players up?’ I had the feeling that now was the moment.

“We’re going to have to dig deep, have an element of luck at times, and for sure a lot of quality in key moments. We have done it.”