Mikel Arteta on Arsenal’s Victory and Title Race:
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta responded bluntly when asked about the title race after his team took advantage of Manchester City’s slip-up with a dramatic 4-2 Premier League win over Leicester City. The victory puts Arsenal level on points with City after a thrilling match at the Emirates Stadium, where Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring, followed by a Leandro Trossard goal, and Kai Havertz sealing the win at the death. Despite City’s draw with Newcastle United, Arteta downplayed the significance of being level on points.
“It’s the sixth game of the Premier League. Regardless of what we do, we are in September. We start to build the right platform for the season to be in the places and areas that we want. Obviously to do that we have to win, win, win. That’s the demands from the other teams in the league. We can only control what we do.”
Reflecting on Arsenal’s Performance:
While the win was crucial, Arteta expressed concern over the game’s difficulties, particularly James Justin’s two goals for Leicester, which kept the visitors in the contest. Despite Arsenal’s control, they were made to sweat before a Wilfred Ndidi own goal and Havertz’s late strike secured the victory.
“Very worrying. Especially in that scenario. In theory, with the performance we produced, you should never get to this point, but this is the beauty of football in relation to other sports.”
Arteta praised the support of the home crowd and acknowledged the emotional challenges faced during the match.
“We did it with the support of our supporters who were unbelievable again. It got nasty, it got difficult, it was emotionally difficult to accept with the amount of situations that we created and the amount of goals that we should have scored. But we didn’t.”
Ethan Nwaneri’s Contribution:
Arteta also highlighted the contribution of 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri, who impressed in his brief cameo, displaying remarkable courage.
“I brought on Ethan [Nwaneri] and the guy, at 17-years-old, his first action is to go past two, three people and take a shot. I just love it. If you want to be here and play at that level, you need to have that courage.”
