How pleased were you by that comeback?
Very good after going 2-0 down. The ones who have been to the games here a few times, I think it was 3-3 about a year ago or a year and a half ago when we played them. I think they beat us 3-1 here last year and it was a couple of set-pieces they beat us with. I’ve always thought we’ve had good games against Arsenal and even the game at the Emirates this year, we were 1-0 up at half-time and Micky (Antonio) was through to make it 2-0. The games I think have been pretty close, but when we went 2-0 down, I have to say I thought ‘my goodness.’ It wasn’t a great start, but I actually didn’t think we started that bad. I thought Arsenal started very brightly with their football, but we were 2-0 down, so it made it hugely difficult.
Could you single out any of your players for their performances?
The biggest thing I think was that I could single out a number of players today, I really could. I thought that their effort and their character, to come from 2-0 down. We played Thursday night, Arsenal have had a week to prepare, we’ve only had a day and a half. I think for the boys to come back and show what they’ve got. I think the three midfield boys, if I was going to say any, the three midfield boys trying to get up to Arsenal’s midfield and be competitive and it’s not easy, because they’re so good, getting up to their players as often as they could. I thought in the end, we just about got on top of it and we got back in the game and we had one or two other opportunities from it as well.
Was the turning point for you just before winning the penalty?
We started to get a little bit more pressure on the ball than we had started. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to put pressure on at the start, I just think Arsenal in the opening period had a couple pieces of play which were excellent.
In the second half, you played like the West Ham of last season. Why do you think you’ve not been able to do that that often this season?
I think we’ve tried to improve. I think today, we put Arsenal under pressure, we tried to put them on the back foot. We tried to not make anything easy, looked a little bit quicker all round the pitch. We got up to people faster, so there was a lot of things that we did better than we did before. We do, we need to get back to it. We’re pleased, the players are pleased because it was a big result. Of course you want to win, but getting a draw today, especially after being 2-0 down, is an excellent result.
Did you think the game was over after going 2-0 down at half-time?
I think when you ever go 2-0 down to a team who is leading the league, you are saying ‘my goodness, this could go against us.’ I think there was one or two tight moments but as I said, I thought we had threatened enough. I thought at 2-0, we hadn’t deserved to be 2-0 down but Arsenal had played so well and made it look like they were incredibly slick, which they are and they sort of made it look really easy. I think people were accepting, by the way, such good football. I don’t think they were saying West Ham were so bad in their defensive organisation, I think they were nearly saying it was the slickness and the good play of Arsenal. That’s why for us to sort of hang in, keep challenging it, keep trying to pressure them and keep trying and in the end, we got a situation that led to the chance, led to the penalty kick and it was a great moment for us because it got us back in the game.
What was the message at half-time, was it to keep going from how you ended the first half?
Yes and we were a bit disappointed with how we conceded the goals, but we were more interested in that we’d got back in the game, how could we keep the pressure on them. It’s difficult because they are such a good footballing team, that’s why they are where they’re at, everyone admires them. Mikel’s (Arteta) done a brilliant job with the team he’s got so for us to keep at it and obviously, moments in football, sometimes the fine line in football is so small. They get a penalty kick just after half-time, which I thought we started the second half well again. They get a penalty kick and you’re saying here if they go 3-1 here it’s going to be very difficult for us because they’ll keep the ball, they’re so good at it, they make it hard. I think in the end, today, we got that little bit of good fortune with the missed penalty and we went on to grow and we went up the pitch and scored. To be fair, I think there was periods after that where I quite fancied us to get a third one maybe as we were going on.
How much harder was the game losing both Nayef Aguerd and Angelo Ogbonna in the build-up to this one?
It was last-minute. Aguerd in training yesterday felt it. The boys who were out there will know he took a kick and his boot came off in the incident in Belgium and it was a boy who had ran down the back of his ankle. Angelo had the fall, he felt okay but he’s stiffened up with his back. That’s why the two boys missed out, so it was a really late call on the change. I think the players done a brilliant job today, showed great resilience. Never gave up, kept trying to win it, kept trying to fight to get it back. I thought they really showed in the whole performance.
What is the latest on Gianluca Scamacca after his knee injury?
I’ve not seen the pictures. All I know is he had knee surgery, we’re not sure. We’re awaiting it, it only got done yesterday. We’re awaiting clear information on exactly what’s been done, we don’t know if it was a washout, we don’t know if anything has been removed, floating bone. I’ve just not got the answer to that.
Did you target Arsenal’s centre-backs late on by going longer?
I don’t think we necessarily targeted any of them, but I thought we had to try and play behind Arsenal and try and put Arsenal on the back foot. We had to try and put Arsenal in a situation where it was a bit more uncomfortable for them. We probably got the ball behind the opposition more than we have done all season and as was pointed out, maybe we’ve been doing that in the past and we’ve not been doing it as much. It’s something which today, we played the game in the way which would give us a chance of winning or at least getting something from the game and we got something.
