Emmanuel Adebayor reacted angrily to suggestions that Arsenal took their eye off the ball at Middlesbrough - with Sunday's glamour clash against Liverpool at Emirates Stadium looming large.

The Togo striker admits there is no escaping the hype surrounding the visit of Steven Gerrard's team as the Gunners look to repeat their victories against Chelsea and Manchester United this season.

And Adebayor concedes the Arsenal camp is still fuming at the way Liverpool dumped them out of last season's Champions League at the quarter-final stage.

But the striker insists Arsene Wenger's men never lost their focus at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday despite throwing away a 1-0 lead and allowing former team-mate Jeremie Aliadiere to steal a point for the home side.

"It's fair to say that we dropped another two points," said Adebayor, who opened the scoring with his seventh League goal of the season. "We are disappointed but at least we got something from the game. We had chances to kill them off but didn't take them.

"We never underestimated Middlesbrough. No way. You know that going to a place like that is always going to be difficult. Every game in the League is tight but you just have to try to find a solution. Credit to them, they defended well and kept it tight. The keeper made some good saves."

But Adebayor's insistence that Arsenal were ready to meet Middlesbrough's challenge doesn't wash with Gunners' flop Aliadiere. The Frenchman scored just one League goal in eight years under Arsene Wenger but has now scored twice in nine months against his former employers.

"Do we think teams come up here with the wrong attitude? Maybe," said Aliadiere.

"Last year we drew with Manchester United at home and it's cold now, it's the winter and perhaps teams like Arsenal don't like coming here.

"They know it is going to be a hard game and we will work hard. But we won't let them have a nice easy game."