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'We were aggressive, creative, and had purpose'

We made it five wins from five in the Europa League on Thursday night with a fine 4-1 victory against Rapid Vienna.

The match will long be remembered as our first in nine months with some fans in attendance, while there was further good news with the returns of long-term absentees Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers.

 

No wonder then, that Mikel Arteta was a happy man afterwards.

 

"It was a great reaction from the boys and right from the kick-off we were active and really aggressive, without and with the ball," he told Arsenal.com.

 

"We were creative, we had a lot of movements, we had purpose, we attacked the opponent’s box and we created many chances to score four goals. We probably could have score more as well.

 

"It’s great news [to see Pablo and Calum back] because those boys have been working really hard with the medical department.

 

"They put in a lot of hours to give themselves the chance to play and perform the way they did today. We have another two really good characters back with us and it’s really good news."

 

Arteta was also delighted to have 2,000 supporters inside the Emirates again.

 

"It was very special," he said. "It’s been such a long time, but they made a huge contribution. There were 2000, but it looked like many more!

 

"They were really supportive, all the time cheering, all the time very positive with the team, and the boys were saying that it gave them a massive lift and it makes a huge difference. This sport makes much more sense with the fans in the stadium."

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