Arsenal Arteta salutes ‘Magical Moment Producers Gunners’

After Arsenal defeated Everton 4-0 to move five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League standings, Mikel Arteta praised his team’s capacity to create magical moments.

The Gunners struggled for the opening 40 minutes against Sean Dyche’s team, but Bukayo Saka’s superb goal, scored just before halftime after Oleksandr Zinchenko’s sharp assist, put them in command.

After being initially called for offside, Gabriel Martinelli added a second goal in first-half stoppage time after a VAR review determined that he was in fact onside.

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Martin Odegaard added a third goal in the second half before the Brazilian added his second to secure the win.

After being first called for offside, Gabriel Martinelli added a second goal in first-half stoppage time after a VAR review determined that he was in fact onside.

Martin Odegaard added a third goal in the second half before the Brazilian added his second to secure the win.

“I’m really happy,” said Arteta afterwards.

“It was the game that we had in hand against an opponent that we knew were going to make life really difficult for us.

“We experienced that at Goodison.

“We started the game with some frustration, not really understanding what we had to do, allowing them to run in certain transitions, but after 20 or 25 minutes I think we started to get much better and I think the timing of the first two goals was key.

“We needed a magic moment there and Alex [Zinchenko] and ‘B’ [Bukayo Saka] produced it. And then the team grew, especially with Thomas [Partey], because Jorgi wasn’t feeling good today.

“When he came on, he really gave some presence and some stability to the team, and I think the second half was superb.”

Asked again about Saka’s opening goal, Arteta added: “In the end, you have to produce those magic moments and take that initiative and have that mentality, ‘I’m going to do it on the pitch.

” I’m not going to wait for somebody else to do it.’

“When you have a few players who have the willingness and the capacity to do that, you have a better chance to win more games.”

With their goals, Saka and Martinelli reached double digits in the Premier League this season, and their boss praised their will to grow and progress.

“Credit to them, because in the end they have to do it themselves, but we try to help them with our way of playing to get them in those positions as much as possible,” he said.

“They are so willing to learn. They are asking for more every single day.

They never have enough information. They want more, about the defenders, the space, the practice.

“In the end, when you have that, and you have the talent they have and the ideas they have, good things will happen.”

Following a three-game losing streak that temporarily allowed Manchester City to surpass them at the top of the table, Arsenal have now won three straight games.

“Arteta insists he never doubted his players’ capacity to recover, though.

“When you look at them every single day and you just feel how much you want it, and how much they really want to produce what we ask them to do, and how much they want to please our people, I had no doubts that we were going to turn things around.

“I’m really pleased with where the team is right now.”

Asked about Arsenal’s title chances, he added: “What I like is that everybody has the enthusiasm to do it. We’re not going to stop that, we have to promote it.

“But the way to promote it is to look at this game and understand we have to do a lot of things better, especially in the first half, that we can play better, and make sure we prepare really well against Bournemouth because that’s going to be a really tough game.”

On Saturday at 3 p.m., Arsenal will play host to Bournemouth in the Premier League. On Super Sunday, Everton plays host to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground; coverage begins at 1pm, and kickoff is at 2pm.


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