Mikel Arteta discloses how Arsenal players reacted to Man City dropping three points
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta confessed that his players watched Manchester City’s 2-1 home loss to Brentford while traveling to Wolves on Saturday.
On Saturday night, the Gunners faced a difficult test at Molineux, but before that, the players witnessed Pep Guardiola’s side suffer a shocking defeat at home at the hands of the Bees.
The two goals scored by Ivan Toney each side of Phil Foden’s first-half rocket were enough to hand City its second loss of the season.
Toney’s second goal was scored late in second-half stoppage time, and Arteta said that it prompted a significant reaction from his players.
When asked what his team thought after Brentford’s winning goal in the 97th minute, the Arsenal manager simply said, “You can imagine.”
Arteta will have been even more pleased with the manner in which his own team handled the threat posed by Wolves, registering a superb 2-0 road victory that guarantees the Gunners will be five points clear at Christmas.
Two goals from the team’s captain, Martin Odegaard, were enough for Arsenal to clinch a hard-earned victory. Aaron Ramsdale, the goalkeeper for the Gunners, was hardly called upon over the entire 90 minutes, despite the fact that Wolves occasionally posed a threat.
Even after the Gunners’ victory and City’s loss, the Arsenal manager was in no condition to get ahead of himself. “Our focus is to be better every day and we still have things to improve,” Arteta admitted.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been in this position, it’s a full transformation from the fans energy and passion that they’ve transmitted to these players.
“We showed another kind of maturity today to play their game, in the first 20-30 minutes we struggled to break them down.
“We were much better in the second half and we had a bit more courage and took risks but also not allowing them to run.”
Ramsdale repeated his manager’s thoughts after the game, stating that Arsenal’s commanding lead over championship rivals City is not yet significant.
The Gunners shot-stopper told BBC Sport: “Every win is very big for us – away from home and at home.
“This place is tough to come and they showed that for 45 minutes. Massive win going into break and a bit of a bumper but that means nothing really.”
Arsenal’s first game back from the World Cup break will be against West Ham at the Emirates, as their title bid begins to take shape – something few would have imagined before the first ball was kicked this season.
Mikel Arteta discloses how Arsenal players reacted to Man City dropping three points
