After watching his side get back to winning ways with a 5-0 thumping of Crystal Palace, Mikel Arteta says Arsenal want to attack the second half of the season with aggression.
The Gunners made light work of a poor Palace side easing into a 2-0 lead before the break via headers from Gabriel Magalhaes, although his second was later adjudged to be an own goal.
Leandro Trossard finished off a lightning quick break just before the hour-mark to make sure of the points before Gabriel Martinelli added a late gloss with a stoppage-time brace.
Speaking to BBC Match of the Day, manager Mikel Arteta reflected: “Very pleased, clean sheet and five goals, win the game and performance.
“I had a really good feeling after we left the stadium after Liverpool, the performance was there but the results were not.
“Today we were much more efficient in the opponents’ box particularly than the last few games. In the last few games we had moments playing better than today but this is about scoring goals.”
Arsenal came into the game having already scored more headers than anyone else in the league and it was little surprise to see them continue the trend. Twice Gabriel rose to convert corners, first from Declan Rice and then Bukayo Saka.
“Set pieces are a big part of us, especially against teams that want to defend deeply. It is a good way to win games,” added Arteta.
The boss was also pleased to see Gabriel Martinelli back on the scoresheet. The Brazilian came off the bench to calmly slot home two similar finishes after darting off the left flank.
“The success of last season was the amount of players who scored more than 10 goals and we are going to have to do that again,” said Arteta.
“We used moments of the game we knew could exploit really, really well. The subs did really well and had a big impact. Everyone was really focused.
“This is the second part of the season we want to tackle it with a lot of aggression and motivation.
“I would like to play three days after but it is what it is! We will keep preparing and we must continue to do better and improve as a team.”
Great result today, but we have. LOT of room for imp
Imps are apparently about 2ft tall, so yes we probably have a lot of room for imp. I’d rather they infest the Sp*rs stadium though.
Great result today, but we have a LOT of room for improvement. First half we were very sluggish and rusty, but the second half was much better. Hopefully this result will be massive for the moral and team spirit after some poor results.
We need Declan and Gabriel to be fit for the rest of season.
If we are going to be in the title fight to the end, we will need to score a lot more goals. Last year Man City scored 94 goals and had 89 points. We scored 88 goals and had 84 points. The season before, City scored 99 goals and finished with 93 points. Liverpool was second with 94 goals scored and 92 points. The season before that, City scored 83 goals and had 86 points. Those are the kinds of numbers you need to be near the top of the league now. So it was great to see us put… Read more »
Even with 5 goals & a clean sheet today Miki’s comment on we still need to improve is correct, Palace were the perfect team for us to play, low in confidence & having an away midweek game, like miki said 10 days to our next game is not good for momentum as we looked a bit rusty today, at least it counts down the days of our injury list..
This is a positive result, all things considered. Dispatching a team 5-0 with ease without the need to shift from the second gear