David Luiz won the man of the match award and Sokratis got on the scoresheet as Arsenal recorded a first Premier League win at the Emirates since 6 October 2019 with a 2-0 win over Manchester United.
The victory, our first under new head coach Mikel Arteta, was propelled by Nicolas Pepe’s early finish and a composed defensive showing after the break.
After the game, Luiz and Sokratis faced the BT Sport cameras. Here’s what they had to say.
On a fantastic win…
DL: “Yeah, I think it was great. We did a great first half and we were mature in the second half. We have to be honest and humble to admit that physically we are not ready; we showed that in the second half against Chelsea and today but when you’re not there physically you have to put in your heart. This team is in a moment now to change a lot of things. You cannot change zero to 10 in one day, one week or one month but it’s beautiful to see how the kids start to understand the commitment and the behaviour of what you have to do every single day to achieve big things in life, big things in football. We showed that today. We’re going to do big things in the future but it’s step by step.
On the reaction of the crowd…
SP: Yeah, we have to, as David said, start again. We have a lot of space to improve. The second half, we didn’t play like the first half. I think every game is better. We start to play. The fun is back. I hope the new year brings the best.
On nerves playing a part today…
SP: Of course, we know we are not ready to fight for 90 minutes. In the second half today we struggled again but every player now likes the way that we play and as I said before, the fun is back. We have to try more and to play better and better in every game.
On the players having a clear idea of what they are doing…
DL: To fight you are ready, but not with all the guns. Mikel is a great coach, he knows football, he was a great player and he brings things where I believe in the philosophy. He brings things where he can improve every single player. In life when you’re happy, the results can be totally different. It’s better to sleep happy four hours happy than sad for eight hours. If you work with happiness and believe in what you’re doing it’s totally different. I’m happy with everybody but you need to understand our season is not there, we didn’t start very well, we started very bad, we have to be honest. But things can change, there are still titles to fight for and improvements for the team for the future.
That’s so deep, David Luiz.
This interview was incredible from DL, it said so much about the previous regime.
In Arteta we already have a sense of style we haven’t had since mid-Wenger reign.
The players are on board and I’m on board too.
He’s happy. Other players are happy. The fans are happy
David Luiz might not be same player anymore but he is definitely a leader. The way he was signaling fans for support or when he was trying to motivate Kola after foul. He can be a good captain.
One of 5?
Hallelujah
Well done to both of you guys. Great performances at the back. Today’s performance with Laca, Auba, Pepe, Ozil, Xhaka and Torreira in front all together personified what Mr Wenger used to say that good players always find a way to play together on the pitch.
Thank you for the new year present
Fitness is an issue, it’s there to see on the pitch and the players are coming out and saying it. So, if Emery wasn’t working on fitness, or any sort of gameplan, what exactly were they doing.
Did anyone else notice after the final whistle, Arteta gathered everyone and got them to go to the fans and thank them? For me I think Arteta has given freedom to the seniors like Luiz and Papa.. I saw Luiz yelling at Kolasinac today in his face when he didn’t track back late in the game, i didn’t see that before.. I think the fans’ excitement is the result of the humility and the realization of the importance of a good relationship with fans that Arteta has shown which is bringing positive vibes.. Across all social media platforms now, there… Read more »
David Luiz was so funny to watch and listen to. A total character! Looked like Sokratis had to stop himself from cracking up too.
Sokratis even smiled! This truly is a revolution.
It feels good to be excited again to watch Arsenal play. Today was fantastic. You could see the players putting their heart and soul into the game. Arteta is going to bring Arsenal back to who we once were!!
I don’t see any sensational ‘revolution’ In fact interview saw both players sheepishly playing down any real success at the moment and both were fairly grounded in insinuating we have NOT been effective over BOTH halves and yet to find the magic formula. As Luiz says, baby steps. We pretty much had similar performance to Chelsea match dropping off and letting them in too close for comfort second half. BOTH Cbacks probably prefer a bit more breathing room. BUT we have not found the formula as yet and we were just lucky we had United on an off day second… Read more »
Have a day off and just enjoy the positives will you
Your negative narrative knows no bounds.
God you’re a miserable twat.
Mate football is a team game You win and you lose together! Tactics and formations are great but the improvement as a team in both attitude and commitment was there for all to see! Don’t care about the individual but I do care about the team! Arteta has clearly told those players what is an absolute given in terms of effort and ethic Now to me We haven’t seen that for some time! I didn’t enjoy Leno and your fave Mustafis errors v Chelsea but the team were stru tired committed and they looked like they cared! Never ljust ook… Read more »
Shall I go through my typos or shall we go down the Xmas guessing game route? Soz Gooners fat fingeritis ?
Typos were fine. Agreed
Most of what Santori said is true and we all know it. The comments from Luiz after the game implied that this team are short fitness wise to play the kind of way Arteta wants to play. Of course they have been training under Emery but to play in a different style. Now they ave to adapt to a new style and it’s not going to happen over night. Of course we are all happy with beating Manure but they are poor at the moment and there was no Pogba to control the midfield. We got them at the right… Read more »
It’s just like 2013/14, even down to your cynicism.
I’m trying hard to understand how we degenerated to the level where we hear some comments like these from our players … “We have to be honest and humble to admit that physically we are not ready” “Of course, we know we are not ready to fight for 90 minutes” This is mid season and the team is not physically ready? How did this happen, was it that Emery’s crew weren’t making the team train hard enough. If this comments came at the beginning of the season, I’ll understand, but mid season? The question now is, what do we have… Read more »
It’s fairly obvious that the team hasn’t been training that intensely before Arteta. With the way Arteta wants to play they have to put in a whole lot more effort than they have before, so of course they’re not used to or physically ready to carry it through yet.
I disagree. Professional athletes should be fit for the job, end of
They’re not physically ready for the style of football Arteta wants to play
“The fun is back….”
For us as well Papa, for the fans as well..
possibly an unpopular opinion here but david luiz has improved so much and showed his experience and leadership qualities for us when our backs were against the wall. don’t get me wrong, he will never be a unanimously approved of signing but he has shown tremendous character these last few games and I think it makes a massive difference. It is what we missed when Kosielny buggered off.
He has been terrible at times but there is a good footballer there without doubt.