After seeing his team battle back to overcome Fulham 2-1, Mikel Arteta revealed he is happier after today's win than he was after we convincingly beat Bournemouth last weekend.
While the 3-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium was comfortable throughout, goals from Martin Odegaard and Gabriel saw us come back after conceding the first goal in a Premier League match in the second half for the first time since December 2013.
And the fighting spirit shown against the Cottagers meant that this win resonated more to Arteta, who celebrated his 100th Premier League game as a manager with three points.
"I’m even happier than last week, I think the performance was top," he said. "I think from the start to finish we went for it, we had periods where we had complete control and dominance of the game and created many chances, many shots and many arrivals in the final third, but it wasn’t happening. It was just a matter of time and being patient and not making a mistake.
"We did make a mistake, but then the best thing I think is the way the team reacted and Gabi reacted against adversity to overcome the situation. Obviously, when you have the character and support that we have in the stadium, that’s easy to do."
The win would have been extra special for Gabriel, who bounced back from allowing Aleksandar Mitrovic to nip in and put Fulham in front to eventually score the winner and keep our 100 per cent intact, and the boss felt he deserved that thanks to the efforts he has made to improve his performances on and off the pitch.
Reflecting on his resilience, Arteta said: "That’s down to how he is now as a professional, his mentality, how he looks after himself, and this can happen to any player. It’s about how you’re going to react to that and I love the mentality of the team and how much they were willing to win and overcome the situation, and we managed to do it."
The win keeps us top of the table heading into the midweek matches with Aston Villa heading to the Emirates on Wednesday, and Arteta feels that the way his team overcame the odds this evening will keep the momentum snowballing heading into that match - on the pitch as well as in the stands.
"It builds even more togetherness with our supporters and you could feel that," he added. "The belief that you could go down in any minute, but you can still come back, keep playing well and we deserved to win the game."
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