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

Virgil van Dijk aimed a sly dig at Arsenal's injury crisis by claiming it "only had two" despite Mikel Arteta's comments during the week.

The Gunners were without five first-team stars ahead of Tuesday's Champions League victory over Shakhtar Donetsk before Riccardo Calafiori became number six after being forced off during the game, joining the likes of Bukayo Saka , 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, yet suggested his side were going through an injury crisis .

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However, both Saka and Timber appeared to make full recoveries after being surprising - or perhaps unsurprising - inclusions in Arsenal's starting lineup, something Van Dijk was keen to point out in his post-match interview.

The Gunners, however, had also been without star defender William Saliba through suspension , 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 first-choice goalkeeper Alisson being ruled out of the tie , instead having to rely on back-up shot stopper Caoimhin Kelleher to keep the ball out the back of the net.

Then there was first-choice striker Diogo Jota, who was also sidelined through injury . Darwin Nunez once again covered for the Portuguese in attack, and played a crucial role as he set up Mohamed Salah's equalizer to earn the Reds a point with a 2-2 draw .