Arteta: We were excellent today

Goals from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard put us two goals to the good inside 13 minutes against Wolves, and although we were unable to add to our tally after that, Mikel Arteta was delighted with what he saw from his team.

Despite our dominance, and racking up 19 shots, we had to see out some nervy moments late on, when Wolves pulled a goal back before eight minutes of injury-time.

After the final whistle Arteta admitted he was a relieved man, but saw plenty to be positive about as well.

“Yeah, I’m very happy, I think the team was excellent again today,” he said. “The way we played, the way we competed, we looked a real threat. Going forwards, we created so many chances and openings, we scored two beautiful goals, and it could have been three or four.

“But it wasn’t, and in the second half as well, we had some big chances to put the game to bed and we didn’t. And we gave them something around the box, they took it and that’s the Premier League, game on.”

Saka’s opener – on six minutes - was the earliest goal we have scored this season, and was also our 100th strike of 2023. Only Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich in Europe’s top five leagues have also hit three figures this calendar year. The manager said he is also pleased that our 100 goals have been shared between 21 different players.

“Yes and they all want to do that,” he said. “The contribution has to come from all over the pitch, and when you see them interacting, and changing positions, and opening gaps, and their relationships are getting better and better. Today, I think it was very fluid.”

The boss finished by giving an update on Takehiro Tomiyasu, who was taken off in the second half, appearing to hold his calf.

“We have to check him, he was a bit fatigued, and we decided to take him off. So, he’ll get assessed but hopefully he’ll be fine.”