After beating Newcastle United 2-0 at St James’ Park, Mikel Arteta was proud to see his players slay the ghosts of last season’s defeat at the same venue.
A Martin Odegaard strike in the first half was followed by a Fabian Schar own goal after the restart to avenge our loss by the same scoreline 12 months ago that put an unrecoverable dent into our Champions League aspirations.
However the boss feels that we used the hurt from that game to fuel our quest to earn a win that keeps our hopes of winning the Premier League title alive.
Detailing the squad’s post-match emotions, he said: “It meant a lot. It was a real test, they hurt our pride last year and in sport, when you have another opportunity you have to make sure you learn from it.
“We had to remember how we felt a year ago when we were here. Today had to be different. We had to play the game with a different level of implication, intelligence and maturity, and we showed a real fight today and a desire to win.
“They are creating something important here, that atmosphere was rocking. They have a great team, great organisation, great individuals, and we won here. That, in my opinion, is a big statement as well with how far we’ve come.”
Victory on Tyneside caps off a huge week for us that saw us overcome Chelsea on Tuesday and Newcastle on Sunday to keep the pressure on Manchester City at the top of the table, with us once again moving just a point behind our rivals.
With just three fixtures remaining of the campaign, the boss feels that grinding out wins is imperative, and implored his players to keep giving it their all in our pursuit of a first league championship in 19 years.
Reflecting on the past few five days, he added: “It’s been critical because it’s the most important part of the season, the nicest part of the season. Today we are second, but to play for the championship with three games to go against this team, and win, it doesn’t get better than that.
“If you want to be involved in elite sport, you have to embrace those moments. There’s no giving up. I saw a lot of people after the City game almost turning back. I hate that, I’m not going to accept that from anybody, from the team, any members of staff.
“We have to keep going because you never know. We have to keep digging - we’ve done it for 10 months, now is the moment to do it even harder than before.”
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