Mikel Arteta said Arsenal produced an “unbelievable” performance as they overcame Leicester 4-2 courtesy of two stoppage-time goals.
The Gunners looked to be cruising to three points when Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard netted in the first half but the tide turned after the break when James Justin scored twice in 16 minutes, first with a header and then a terrific volley.
Despite the setback, Arsenal continued to attack with a fluidity not seen in the last few games and ultimately got their reward at the death. Bukayo Saka’s corner was caressed back towards goal by Leandro Trossard before Wilfred Ndidi tapped into his own net. As the Emirates breathed a huge sigh of relief, Kai Havertz added a fourth following a lengthy check by VAR.
“I’m very happy, first of all with the performance,” Arteta told BBC Match of the Day.
“I think we were unbelievable today. We deserved to win with many more goals. Starting the second half the way we did, conceding the first goal makes things harder and then with the equaliser the team showed unbelievable character to keep pushing, creating chance after chance.
“We suffered more than we should have but this is football. Really happy with the team.””
Asked about scoring so late, he continued: “Now we are really happy but we could have been in a very different position because of the two goals we conceded but certainty with the performance we have to be super happy.”
“There’s always a possibility [of dropping points], this is the Premier League, every team has got unbelievable resources to create issues and today they scored two goals out of very little but this is the quality that they have.”
After Manchester City dropped points at Newcastle, the Gunners are now level on points with Pep Guardiola’s side.
This team keeping its nerve in this situation and scoring late is so so so so so believable. What a team.
Their xG at the final whistle was 0.27. We were so, so unlucky that Leicester were even vaguely in the game.
But, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, losing our heads or conceding another on the break, we just kept plugging away and justice was done.
Fantastic work! Another morale and confidence boost. There’s really nothing this squad can’t achieve.
COYG!!!
The cool thing about results like these are that it was written in the stars that we wouldn’t win. A wonder strike from a mediocre right back and a massive deflection. It was “one of those days” where fate just hands you a bad hand. Except it wasn’t. Because that’s not how the world actually works, even though our brains try to tell us it does. There is no deterministic meta narrative that we are fated to follow. Today was about chucking that mentality in the bin and just grinding our teeth to get a result. And that will be… Read more »
Maybe I’m completely irrational but I just wouldn’t believe that this game could end 2-2. I was so sure that we simply HAD to score that I wasn’t even worried. When Trossard knocked it in off N’Didi I was happy but not like in a “we got away with that” way but more in a “finally got what we fucken deserved” kind of way. It felt inevitable.
Love the strong attacking after a match of excellent defending.
We have a chance this season if we keep it going!
2-0 leads seem to be a bit of an issue for us. Not the first time this has happened and cost us. Thankfully today we got the 3 well deserved points. But I have two serious questions, how does their player get away with a yellow card while climbing on the back of our player while we are ready to trow the ball back? How?? Pls explain? Also when saiacwas fouled outside the box, the ref gave advantage, but we had no clear advantage. What was he smoking?
What about that James Justin fella with two goals and an assist today!
We BATTERED them.
75% possession. 17 shots on target. an XG of 4+. It was crazy that it almost ended in a draw.
Really excited for when we add Merino to that RHS. And I think Timber is Arteta’s #1 fullback right now (Left or Right side.)
XH never bulled a cow, but ya we were all over them , great resolve to stick it
Bulled a cow?
Let’s rock
Arsenal flexing creative muscles. That was the MOST xG and xGOT (on target) in the entire league this season to date. The threat was from all over, not the least from Timber and Calafiori. But there is one man who is responsible for most of this… Bukayo Saka. His stat line is beyond ridiculous. 8 successful dribbles out of 12 attempted. 6 accurate crosses out of 11 attempted. 8 key passes. 4 big chances created. From all that, just 1 assist today. He has now assisted a goal in EVERY game he’s played this season in the PL. He now… Read more »