Mikel Arteta was full of praise for his players as Arsenal eased past Leeds United 4-1 at Emirates Stadium to maintain their eight-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table.
The pressure was on the Gunners after Pep Guardiola’s side produced a 4-1 win of their own in their early kick-off against Liverpool but a brace by Gabriel Jesus, followed by goals from Ben White and Granit Xhaka secured a seventh consecutive win in the Premier League for the first time in the Arteta era.
Here’s what the boss had to say.
“I’m very happy,” he said. “We had quite a few things going on in the last few days, but the team responded very well to all of them.
“It was a tricky game and a tricky opponent, but overall I think we deserved to win the game. They played with a lot of organisation and desire. We had a couple of moments when we lost the ball in dangerous areas.
“Everybody has to contribute and today was a good example, with Granit scoring the fourth goal.
“We’ve been really consistent throughout the season. The most important thing is tomorrow, and doing things better the next day than we have today.”
Asked about Man City’s win earlier in the day, Arteta continued, “We can’t control that. We need to focus on what we can control and play as well as we can to keep winning games.”
I was worried to be missing Saliba and have Saka on the bench but it shows we have a squad now. Tougher matches to come but we would have taken wherever we will end up in the PL at the start of the season. Very happy!!!
Winning the league would be a fantastic conclusion to an extraordinary competitive season. I’ve only ever wanted to compete with the top teams in the PL. We are doing that and have been all season. It is a new experience for me to look at the PL results and only care about one team chasing us and not do all of the possible outcomes of the other teams and where we could end up. What a time to be a Gooner.
We are perfectly capable of beating Liverpool, beating Newcastle and at least a draw with City
We’ve beaten City once in the league in our last 15 meetings.
We need to make a statement and come away with 3 points
Nice to have a week off now to prepare for Anfield while Liverpool have to play midweek.
And Jesus prayed with his teammates, saying:
“Arteta, who art N7, hall-Ode be thy name
Your kingdom come, thy will be done
On earth, and in the N7.
Give us this May our title dreams,
And forgive us our missed passes
As we punish those who miss passes against us.
And lead us not into Tottenham,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Premiership,
And the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.”
You probably don’t mean any malice but that comment is highly disrespectful for us Christians.
I’m a Christian, too!
I’m not a Christian but your prayer has made me consider becoming one.
My cousin is a Christian. He found it very spiritual.
Your Jesus is fake
Our Jesus is very much real
I am a Christian, so is the footballer Erikson. Pretty sure neither of us are offended by this, i think it’s brilliant! Come on Arsenal
It’s not, you’re ok. Everyone here respects your religion. Being offended is trendy, but it won’t make you happier mate.
Can you get any softer?
I’m not offended, though I get where you are coming from. Somebody should read it to one Mr Saka. He loves his bible also.
On a personal level I find the casual use of OMG in either sort of full form to be more offensive.
I heard someone complaining about use of Christian hymns as the basis for football chants also. Again I understand the argument.
Ultimately there is too much going on to be constantly outraged by relatively trivial things.
Let’s worry about loving each other and leave judgement to the judge.
Lighten up Francis.
My post was aimed at you boywonder
My apologies for misquoting the scriptures. The last line should read, “North London forever. Amen.”
I’m a Christian and I’m not offended in the least. If you know the true teachings of Christ from a young age he loved to play practical jokes on his pal’s. I suggest you read or listen to the Essine teachings of Jesus formed from words, way back in the day, of those who knew him
Game vs Liverpool in the final stretch of a title run in. Reminds me of that win vs Liverpool in the Invincibles season on the back of a very unlucky quarterfinal Champions League exit to the despicable blues. That win convinced me we would go on to win the title. I would take a draw at Anfield next week, but imagine if we won. Just imagine.
oh! I recall it like yesterday. Henry was on fire that day to claim that tie!!
We can’t afford a draw on the form City are in. It’s a must-win.
Actually we could win the league with a draw at Citeh. So we could more than afford it. Simple Maths.
Take a bow Edu and Arteta. Trossard THE signing of the season.
Our record at anfield isn’t the best so imagine winning there. I will go over the moon. A draw won’t be a bad result but a win will really be so nice. I hope they wear off against Chelsea before we play them.. but we know Liverpool.. they love to turn up against us. Usually there’s always goals in this fixture. I will take a 6:3 win against them. Hehe