After seeing his team dig deep to find a late winner and beat Brentford 2-1 at Emirates Stadium, Mikel Arteta chatted to the journalists in attendance about our eighth league win in a row.
He was asked about individual displays, Kai Havertz's impressive form and the quick turnaround ahead of the visit of Porto on Tuesday among many topics.
Here is everything he had to say:
on winning the game late:
It felt great, obviously we had to dig in and earn the right to win it, but I’m really pleased with the performance, the maturity, the emotional control that we showed, and how we overcame difficulties. If you want to be up there, you have to win these types of games and the team showed that it has the tools and especially the determination, and the belief to do so.
on Kai Havertz proving his critics wrong:
I am so happy. If someone told me that after the first two or three months the whole stadium is singing his song with that passion, with that feeling, with that chemistry, it would be hard to believe, but that’s what happens to good people and an exceptional player.
on Aaron Ramsdale’s performance:
Really happy, especially because he did exactly what he is, which is a person with a huge personality and courage, very determined. An error is part of football, it’s hard to react about it, especially for the keepers because it’s probably the most difficult position but he did it in an amazing way. I am not surprised because the whole team and whole stadium was behind him. He has that respect and admiration and really wanted to win for him that moment and he really helped us to win the game.
on what it takes to win eight matches in a row:
There’s a lot of qualities that you need to win that many games in this league and manner in which we have done it, but it is about consistency as you’ve mentioned, and not being satisfied and willing to do more, and as well having the qualities to gain in different context because every game is going to require different process, different story and the team showed a different one today.
on the quick turnaround to face Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday:
Yeah but this stadium is going to have the energy that you have never seen in your life, because we haven’t done it for 14 years. Bring your noise, bring your energy, your passion into that stadium and something beautiful is going to happen.
on how he helps keep the team living in the moment:
Just playing every single game the way we do, analyse the game and try to be better tomorrow, recover well, eat well and sleep well. Live our life, our profession in the manner that we are at the moment, and when you are in a good moment, enjoy it, embrace it and make sure you are prepared for the next one because that’s the moment to build on what we want to do.
on Declan Rice’s consistently high level of performance:
He’s playing at a very consistent and excellent level in different positions, in a new club. There’s a lot of things that have to go together and it’s not easy, he’s done it with such determination, with the passion and quality that he knows he plays the game and understands the game, and he’s delivering some big moments for us.
on the moment where things started to click for Havertz:
Especially from the outside maybe, because in industries like this, it was the moment he started to score the goals. And everything started to flow, people started to feel more connected with him and they see the work rate, they see his intelligence, we see how he plays for the team, and he’s contributing. It’s impossible not to love him.
on keeping the pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City:
I wish it was different [about it not being to do with us] and tomorrow I could take my remote and change a few things when I want to! By I’m going to enjoy, not only that game, but tomorrow there are three magnificent games to watch, and we’ll enjoy tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll start to prepare for Porto and just feel the gravity of the position that we are in and being a part of this incredible league. That’s the way I’ll watch the games.
on his favourite late winner as Arsenal manager:
It’s tonight because it’s the present and the most important one and in the manner that we’ve done it. You have to be able to win games in those minutes, you want to be there, and we’ve done it tonight.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
