Mikel Arteta admitted that he was frustrated that his team didn't put the game to bed earlier, but was still delighted with the resilience to claim a 2-1 win against Aston Villa.
Having battered the Villa goal for half an hour, we finally took the lead through Gabriel Jesus, but despite our dominance couldn't find the all-important second goal until after Douglas Luiz had equalised directly from a corner.
However, Gabriel Martinelli's composed finish 13 minutes from time handed us the win we deserved, to keep us top of the Premier League table and make it five wins from five, which ultimately was what Arteta was happiest about.
Speaking post-match, the boss said: "I'm really pleased, really happy, especially with the performance in the first half. I thought we were brilliant, we were at it, we were really intense, we played with enormous speed, quality and efficiency and we should have scored four or five goals and the game would have been over.
"We didn't manage to do that, in the second half we played in many phases, much more the game that they wanted to play - really stretched with a lot of transition moments, with a lot of duels in open spaces and we suffered a little bit more. And after conceding a goal without conceding anything, from a corner kick, we responded really well again and I think we deserved to win the game."
Luiz's freak goal could have caused heads to drop having been so dominant for so long, but spurred on by a passionate crowd, Arteta believes the spirit and never-say-die approach our players are showing right now meant they always believed they'd still go on and win.
Reflecting on the second 45, he added: "I know how this league works and you never get two halves that are exactly the same and they were going to change their approach and they did.
"We struggled a little bit more playing that kind of game, but I think the team competed really well and when we need to, we have that character and resilience to respond, I think the team was at it.
"The team responded really well and we always talked about it. This is going to happen, it's part of the games, it's about how you respond to it, obviously, the crowd helps massively the way they are supporting the team, so I'm really happy with the win."
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