Mikel Arteta says that having more players available in training helped change the energy of his team as they ran out 3-0 winners over Nottingham Forest this afternoon.
The Gunners have been beset by injuries this season, with some players who have played games unable to train during the week, and the boss feels that increasing the intensity for those sessions aided the preparation for today’s win.
“I sensed a different energy 48 hours before the match, straight away,” said Arteta afterwards.
“There was something else that was different. What happened is that instead of with 12 or 13 players, we trained with 19 for the first time in six weeks.
“Suddenly you are like, wow, competitiveness, the level, the quality, the understanding, the competition, everything rises and that’s why we need every single day to train at that level.
“That’s down to the availability of a lot of players that haven’t been able to do that. When that happens the level will rise for sure.”
It was Arsenal’s first Premier League win since early October, falling on Arteta’s 250th game in charge of the club, and the Spaniard was pleased with the day’s work.
“It’s a beautiful day, especially for me, because that’s a big number and it’s a huge privilege to be where I am,” he said.
“Everybody contributed to the game phenomenally well with a lot of fluidity and enthusiasm in our play, dominance, scoring goals and creating so many chances.
“Then when that wasn’t enough, we brought the subs and they also had a big impact to help us win the game. We scored three goals, kept a clean sheet, so a lot of positives I would say.”
How did the players rate today? – Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest – Player Ratings
We have our own Messi taking shape
this is exactly why Arteta doesn’t want to play him too much too soon, the absolute last thing we want is this sort of comparison he couldn’t possibly live up to unless he becomes the best football player of all time.
Sir Keir stern presence helped, too… maybe
Love it. It’s easy to “dominate” against a low block but we created so many chances and had such sharp one touch passing on the edge of their box that this is really encouraging – it’s amazing to think this wasn’t even a good day in front of goal for most of attackers, because on a good day Saka would’ve had a hat trick, Jesus would’ve had one, Ode one and we could’ve easily won 6-0.
It was a fantastic day in the office for our team; let’s carry this energy into the next one.
Captain Odegaard
Some lovely moments of fizz ball mostly in their penalty area / many shots blocked – generally very secure when they attacked which was a lot
And Credit to Raheem for really intelligent cutback –
Jesus looks lost
I.e – Can’t remember a single turn that he made on receiving the ball – mostly just played it straight backwards –