After three defeats on the spin, the mood among the Gunners faithful was understandably despondent this week, but a rousing performance away to Chelsea was just the tonic needed to get our top-four bid back on track.
After witnessing the 4-2 win on Wednesday night – thanks to goals from youngsters Eddie Nketiah (two), Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka, manager Mikel Arteta was all smiles when he spoke to Arsenal Media after the game.
“We scored four goals with our academy players which is unique and great,“ he said.
“Then I know that our fans have been disappointed in the last two weeks, because of the expectation we have created for them, and thankfully today we give them something back.”
The fixture was our game in hand on Tottenham, postponed from earlier in the season, and the victory moves us level on points with our north London neighbours – behind on goal difference - with just six games remaining.
And next up it’s sixth-placed Manchester United at the Emirates on Saturday, knowing another victory would open up a six-point gap on Ralf Rangnick’s side.
“I’m now thinking about Manchester United,” Arteta stated. “This one is done now, we have already enjoyed it in the dressing room. Now it is about recovery, preparing mentally. We don’t have any time to prepare for the match, so we are going to have to need our people to turn up and make the Emirates a real place against Manchester United.”
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.
