Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on Nicolas Pepe's 'unacceptable' red card and the impossible task of dominating Leeds United

The Gunners boss was proud of the work the remaining 10 players mustered to hold on for a goalless draw. Leeds held siege to the visitors' goal, hitting the woodwork three times and finishing the game with 25 shots but failing to find a breakthrough.

"We have to take a point considering the circumstances," said Arteta.

"I'm never satisfied with a point but we know the challenge we faced in the second half with 10 men. The effort all the players put in to try to overcome that advantage was phenomenal. Credit to Leeds as well, they had their chances to score."

The 38-year-old condemned the violent conduct that resulted in a red card for Pepe. The forward appeared to react to Alioski's nuisance factor, motioning towards the Leeds man with his head after becoming exasperated at their numerous minor collisions.

"Very clear, it's unacceptable," said Arteta.

"I'm telling you what I think. What happens inside [the dressing room] I can't share with you guys.

"We knew the level of intensity, aggression and how alive they are in every action. You have to be able to deal with that, it's part of the plan against this team. You have to be able to handle the situation."

Arteta likened a game against Bielsa's Leeds to a trip to the dentist after the sides met in last season's FA Cup and admitted there was no way Arsenal could have been on top for the duration of this encounter, even with 11 men. But he was pleased with a first half spell that saw the Gunners create problems.

"In some moments it worked really good," he said of their plan.

"We had a patch of 25, 30 minutes where we were really good, made it really hard for them, and a spell of 15 minutes where we gave the ball away and they suffocated us. They've done it against every team in the PL. It's impossible to dominate this team for 90 minutes.

"We go to 10 men and then it's obviously a mountain to climb.

"I'm cross because I want to win. I get upset, we had a really difficult week for different reasons. We lost two players through injuries today and one through suspension and we have an incredible amount of games coming up. The fact we need to score more goals is a concern. I know how much this team has evolved in a lot of things. The resilience they showed playing with 10 men, this is growing and is a very positive thing."

Arteta had to replace Willian at the break due to a muscular issue and lost substitute Bukayo Saka late on, after a challenge with Alioski.

"He was in pain, we'll have to assess how bad it is," Arteta said of the England youngster.

"But it looked a pretty bad challenge and he was in pain so we decided to take him out straight away."

Arsenal did have their chances to hurt Leeds on the counter attack even with 10 men, the best of which came when Saka raced through on Illan Meslier but failed to beat the Frenchman.

Arteta is alarmed by the lack of goals from his team - they've scored just nine in nine Premier League games - and wants his players to be more decisive in front of net than they were at Elland Road.

"That flair, that creativity that players need to make the last action, the most difficult thing in football, we have to create more and be more consistent with the amount of things we finish and how we finish them," he said.

"It worries me obviously. We need a lot of goals to win football matches and be the top team we want to be. It's not the lack of attacking players. We need some moments where we have to make decisions better, be more ruthless.

"Sometimes we go through these patches and we have to overcome."