Interview

Arteta - I told them to be brave, and they were

Another game, another red card, but a fighting performance that secured praise from Mikel Arteta.

Trailing at the break to Southampton, we equalised through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and then had to battle on with 10 men after Gabriel was sent off - but we did it to claim a hard-earned draw.

"Considering that we played again with 10 men for 35 minutes, after playing another 40/45 minutes three days before [with 10 men], you have to take the point," Arteta told Arsenal.com. 

"We needed a win. We play to win, we're really disappointed with the way that we conceded the first goal but then the team reacted. Instead of getting down, the team reacted, we kept trying with more efficiency. 

"We created some really good situations in the first half but we didn't finish the action well enough. We came back really strong in the second half, we scored a really good goal and we kept going. When we had a [good] moment again, we shot ourselves in the foot and made things really complicated for ourselves.

 

"[At half time I told them] there is no time to feel sorry for ourselves. It is what it is. We have to stand up. We have to play with courage. We have to win the game and to do that we have to be brave and the players did that straight away."