Arteta’s side, who were without captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka, started brightly but allowed the visitors grow into the game.
The Red Devils had the best chances in the first half but failed to break the deadlock. Firstly, it was Brazil international Fred, whose effort was saved by Bernd Leno, before Marcus Rashford wasted a glorious opportunity by failing to hit the ball on target.
Arsenal were the better side in the second half as Alexandre Lacazette's free-kick hit the crossbar before goalkeeper David de Gea made an excellent block to keep out Emile Smith Rowe's effort.
"It was good entertainment, both sides wanted to win. They had good moments in the first half and we had the majority of our good moments in the second half. Overall it's a fair result,” Arteta said after the game.
"We had a big performance from all the players. We missed key players and the players that played stood up and took their chance. You have to be clinical when you have the chance against big teams.
"We have to hit more shots on target, more often. We are working on it but the team looked really solid and we improved as the game went on. We put pressure on ourselves the way we gave the ball away but second half we looked a lot better.
"We have so much to catch up [in the table] because of the run we had in the last few months. There is a lot of work to do but I like the direction the team is going in."
