If Arsenal fans love the effusive praise of Mikel Arteta after many Gunners wins, they are surely in for a treat following a 5-1 saunter against Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Arsenal showed off their attacking acumen by getting goals from five different players including a pair of teenagers in Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, the latter having a solid shout for Man of the Match.
RECAP — Arsenal 5-1 Manchester City
But Arsenal also limited Erling Haaland to 10 touches — although a brilliant headed goal was among those rare moments — and owned the midfield as required against City’s Rodri-less crew.
What did the Arsenal boss say after the win? You could say he was happy…
Mikel Arteta reaction — What did Arsenal manager say after win over Manchester City?
On the performance: “It’s great day for us especially that we had to win the game to sustain the pressure up there and the manner that we’ve done it I’m really really pleased. We needed a bit of luck and we had it.”
“There are moments in the game and you can have those once. Sometimes we are a bit lucky but overall we scored some beautiful goals in different manners and the team showed a competitive manner.”
“You go and high press. You win it? Great. You hold the ball after winning it? Great. If not, you defend your box. They are so good.”
On Myles Lewis-Skelly: “You need big individual performance against teams like this to beat them in the way we did. Myles was certainly one of them. ... He’s been pushing since he’s been with us. We really like the character, the personality. He has so much courage and he prepares. He got some minutes and he’s asking for more. The competition is high and he deserves to play.”
On City’s quality: “You are going to suffer in periods of the game. We did it when we had to do it. We had an opportunity to win the game and be ruthless, and we did.”
Martin Odegaard reaction
On the win: “Tough team, tough performance and with the fans and the score sheet, can’t be better.”
On Kai Havertz’s day: “Massive impact again today. He scored again, did well with and without the ball. Top player, good to have him in the team.
“We have a good connection. We understand each other. I know where he wants the ball. Intelligent players and we know each other so well now.”
On finally getting another goal: “It was about time. It was good. We didn’t stop. We just kept on going and again I think we got what we deserved.”
Kai Havertz reaction
What worked in the win: “We pressed them and managed it well. Sometimes they beat the press but our energy was good.”
On how they worked the press: “It’s the timing, you know? We train it a lot of times. It’s not just us, it’s everyone. The defensive players have to push through. The energy is very important and the rest of the team, too.”
On scoring his goal: “I was a bit frustrated on the chance in the first half so I thought to myself I had to score. When I saw it go in, I was happy.”
