Mikel Arteta says the 5-1 defeat to Anfield resulted in the angriest ever reaction he’s seen from Arsene Wenger.

The manager blew his top at the players following the pitiful first half on Saturday, and the Spaniard says he’s never seen Wenger that upset.

“The manager was really upset at half-time,” he told the Guardian, “but that’s normal because it wasn’t good enough for this football club. It was the angriest I have seen him.”

He’s called on his teammates to react in a positive manner as they prepare to face Man Utd on Wednesday.

“We have had two big crises already. I think the Manchester United defeat was a different game to this, but City and this one are really hard to take.

“We have to react because there is nothing we can do about this now. We know we need to improve and face those games in a different manner because after 19 minutes we were 4-0 down and it was like a car crash.”

Wenger himself told French television, “We were feeble in every important aspect of playing at the highest level: concentration, strength in the challenge and naivety.

“So from that moment on it’s impossible to win a game when you’re playing at that level. We’ve been well beaten twice now, and twice with an early kick-off away from home. But we have to ask questions of ourselves about this.

“If our confidence isn’t affected too much, I think it will come back and we’ll see a different Arsenal side on Wednesday night.”