Mikel Arteta admits he resorted to praying in the closing stages of the north London derby as Arsenal withstood a late onslaught from Sp*rs to secure a 3-2 win.
Arsenal took the lead against the run of play when Pierre-Emile Højbjerg headed into his own net from a corner and were fortunate Micky van de Ven had strayed fractionally offside in the process of scoring a VAR-disallowed leveller.
The Gunners took advantage of that turning point in the match with Kai Havertz setting up Bukayo Saka to score on a counterattack before the German headed home a Declan Rice corner.
Arsenal were largely comfortable in the opening stages of the second half but when David Raya gifted Cristian Romero a chance to slot into an empty net after a bad pass out from the back, the nerves started to kick in.
When Son Heung-Min converted a penalty, awarded by VAR after Declan Rice clumsily kicked through Ben Davies, the Gunners were staring down the barrel of a horrible collapse but they did just enough to hold on in six minutes of stoppage time to take the points.
After the game, Arteta told Sky Sports: “It’s a really tough place to come, an unbelievable atmosphere, a great team.
“We were super efficient, we really were organised, we were very efficient, especially in the first half.
“We started the second half really well, we were in total control of the game and could have scored the fourth one. And then an individual error [by Raya], we conceded a goal and you can feel it, it’s game on.
“From there, you have to dig in. You have to manage the game. You have to have a bit of luck at times when you need to. We conceded the second one, again, a mistake that is not very usual. And then, pray. Defend your box.
“They threw everything at us, Romero was playing as a striker for the last 25, 30 minutes. Anything can happen. But I think to win big things, you have to go through this moment.
“I’m obviously super happy because it’s a day to be proud. It’s a day that for our supporters means so much. And hopefully they can enjoy a beautiful evening.”
Despite dropping a clanger that changed the pitch of the match, goalkeeper Raya was praised by Arteta for the character he showed in the final half an hour.
“We are lucky to have the keeper that we have because he made an individual error but after, the way he played, it was outstanding,” said the boss.
“He said, I own this moment I’m going to make a step forward and he was magnificent during those last few moments.”
“Tthe reality is that anything can happen in this moment. When the game becomes very chaotic, mentally, emotionally, it’s very difficult to handle. The first thing that comes to your mind is what they score another one? What if they now draw the game? And mentally, I think we were really good, really solid. The changes helped us well and we got it done.”
Unlike last season when Arsenal’s title challenge petered out, this time around the players are desperate to push reigning champions Manchester City as far as they can. All the Gunners can do is win their remaining three games and hope that Pep Guardiola’s side drop points at some point.
“We are right on it. We are right on it,” said Arteta. “Three games to go. We have to play two games at home. We’re going to try.
“The next one is going to be Bournemouth. They just beat Brighton 3-0, I think. So they are in great form. It’s going to be a really difficult game again, but we are really pleased let’s enjoy tonight.”
Fucking yes boss! Happy St Totteringham’s Day! Buzzing!
Raya is not the solution, too short, not an elite keeper.
Today had nothing to do with his height, and he was really good on crosses etc, very safe hands. He just made a dreadful mistake with his feet.
After the mistake he was actually pretty faultless coming to claim anything withing 10 metres of him……bask in the glory of the win for 6 days guys, if you can’t be happy today when can you be happy?
Like all Arsenal players I wish them nothing but success, but his mistake against Bayern ultimately led to our elimination and his mistake today nearly led to us blowing a 3 goal lead.
Anything against Raya will be automatically downvoted mate. Thanks Tom!
If we blew a 3-0 lead it wouldn’t just be his fault.
Agreed. It’s funny how some Gooners can’t take us pointing out facts when it comes to Raya, we can still support him 100%.
And the facts are correct when it comes to Bayern and this game. If that was Ramsdale, we’d be hearing about why we need a keeper with good feet etc.
very poor decision making for that goal. He’d been booting in on a lot of other occasions, why not then?
After that he was amazing and pretty immaculate on claiming crosses.
Ramsdale would’ve been a nervous wreck in that game and we would probably have lost. Raya was excellent except one moment of madness, the same as Declan. Things like that happen in crazy games like the North London Derby, and the team stuck together and came through the pressure to a fantastic win. I’m very proud of all of them.
disagree. Ramsdale did not have such a stable back four as Raya is having throughout this season. Arteta is destroying his confidence after having spent 30 mln for him. at the end of the day, if he wins the league, he is right.
He didn’t, agree, but he was also part of the overall instability. What we have now is greater than the sum of the parts.
So if Man City drop points now and he wins the league he is right, but if City win all their remaining games that will make him wrong?
the fact that last season he was second and this season too. after having spent 200+ mln
Try better to enjoy life as it happens and not delay enjoyment until you climb to the top of the mountain.
I don’t think that Arteta is destroying Ramsdale’s confidence. He isn’t talking condescendingly about him or something like that. There are 1 or 2 aspescts of the game where he thinks Raya is a better fit in his plans. But I think Ramsdale easily has the mental capacity to understand that it doesn’t mean that Arteta (or the staff or his team-mates) doesn’t rate him highly. Cole Palmer sat on the bench quite a lot just because Guardiola preferred Foden in his team. Does that mean that Palmer is not a top quality player? (by the way… The spaniard also… Read more »
“We are lucky to have the keeper that we have” said the boss, shuddering at the alternative
This is exactly my point which has been unfortunately stifled in this platform. If you really wanted a “ball at his feet” GK why did you let Martinez leave, MA? And I ack hands down that Martinez is much much better than Aaron.
Hahaha. Martinez is a prick.
Arteta has a pretty strong no pricks allowed policy.
Utter nonsense about Ramsdale. He’d thrive in that atmosphere.
Bandwagon jumping bullshit. Raya did nothing Ramsdale couldn’t have, including the gaffe to be fair, but if Ramsdale had done it it would be proof that he’s a has been, will never play for Arsenal again etc etc. See Brentford match reports for proof. Not Rayas fault and Arteta can’t be sentimental either but what has Ramsdale done to merit being turned on so much?
Although apologies I take back the first line. You may have thought that about Ramsdale for ages, not everyone who holds the same opinion has jumped on the bandwagon.
Wait until the end of the season. For the remaining games Raya is the TGKTEL.
I thought raya did very well after the mistake – it would’ve been easy to become nervous and crumble but he commanded his box well
Thx Boss, we can have and enjoy a beautiful evening.
Fantastic result.
Must admit we were off the boil in the second half but considering we had played three games inside of a week plus the Bayern game and they had two weeks rest we did great.
Never a good idea to go off the boil when you have Rice on.
Knowing McCheese only good with perfect rice.
New commemorative DVD! 🙶The day we nearly came back to draw in the North London Derby — but not quite!🙷
On sale at Spuds Shop!
Am I the only one on earth obsessed with point deduction or relegation of Man City for the serious financial offense they were accused of last year?
If you are rich, even your opponents are nice to you. Not a single comment on this forum about this subject other than mine. Point deduction to Everton, nobody would link that to Man City.
I don’t buy this talk of 115 charges taking longer than Everton’s or Forest’s.
It has been 14 months and they are no further forward than when the story first broke.
But then again, I guess it takes a long time to negotiate those bribes and fabricate those excuses.
If they do escape completely or lightly the Premier League will lose what little integrity it has.
Then it is time to talk about the super league…
Unfortunately no one really cares about the Premier League’s or any other league’s, nor UEFA’s nor FIFA’s integrity, people love their footy too much and if they cared about integrity they couldn’t enjoy it, neither here nor anywhere else, so that stuff just gets swept under the mental carpet and forgotten about.
We just not dare get our hopes up after so many years of such corruption both in England and in most of world football going unpunished, especially at the very top rather than bottom/mid-table sides like Everton. If it happens, blessed be the gods, until then I will focus on our team winning our games, as I hope the players are.
The premier league saw what happened to Serie A after its corruption scandals and doesn’t want the same thing to happen here. The reason they’re deducting points from Forest and Everton this season is because there are 3 historically awful teams who will guarantee both teams stay up regardless (whereas a points deduction for Everton in either of the last two seasons would have sent them down). The PL gets to look like they’re making a big effort to enforce the rules without having to tangibly affect the authenticity of the product. The same will happen to City. Probably once… Read more »
real Madrid had barça Managers bumped off and no one in Spain talks or thinks about it.
100% this. They have the most expensive squad in the league – a squad they paid for by breaking the rules – and it’s that squad that allows them to relentlessly win. In January we didn’t buy a striker because if we had, we’d have broken the rules. Nobody will ever convince me that Man City breaking the rules hasn’t made a difference of at least 5 points each season. That has cost Liverpool at least one title, and will maybe cost us the title this season. I truly believe that if they had built their squad following the same… Read more »
I am with Mr Mangan on this one any speculation might leave him and his team under serious legal trouble.
Raya, I still love you ❤️
Yes he needs our support during this difficult time after having had shat his pants!
I think I would have been very upset if an Arsenal goal was disallowed by the margin theirs was
Are you talking about the offside? What should have happened, in your opinion, given the goal, because the margin was small? Offside is offside, this rule is one of the few that are really black and white. This was offside, full stop.
They said they would be upset, not that they disagreed with the decision.. no need to be the rule police ..
Most of us fans would be in that situation
It was offside. By four or five yards. VAR made it look much closer