It's be a long time coming and Mikel Arteta's Arsenal have beat Man City for the first time since December 2015 in the Pemier League!
Arteta is really proud of his team and the way they are playing saying that City are the best team in the world.
Arteta is really proud of his team and the way they are playing saying that City are the best team in the world.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 How important was that victory today and what do you make of the performance?
00:08 A great feeling. You could sense it's been so many years without beating them and today
00:14 we have beat, in my opinion, without a question, I doubt, the best team in the world. We've
00:18 done it in a great way because there were moments that we had to suffer but as well
00:23 we had moments where we showed real determination and desire and belief to beat them. So I'm
00:28 really happy.
00:29 Did you send a statement to the team?
00:39 I certainly sent a message to the team. They keep believing in what they are doing. They
00:42 are a fantastic group of players. The way they try, the understanding and the chemistry
00:47 they have between them, you sense it and you need it to beat them. So today, again, really
00:52 proud. I was proud on Wednesday when we lost the game and I'm really proud today as well
00:55 to be part of that team.
00:57 Was it key to David that it was controlled emotion?
01:11 Yes, especially because there are certain moments where they are constantly asking questions
01:16 and provoking you. The crowd wants you to go and go and go. What do the crowd do? We
01:23 don't go and the crowd do that. We don't go and the crowd do that. We have to manage that.
01:29 We have to understand that emotionally it's not easy. Emotionally it's not easy to chase
01:33 15, 20 passes and you have to be able to do that and then have the courage to play because
01:37 you don't want to play against this team. You just give the ball to them every single
01:40 time and I thought the players were excellent.
01:42 How did you feel about the atmosphere in the dressing room?
01:51 They were all dancing and I'm super happy. They were international breaks. The mood is
01:55 always much better. They're going to have a few days off, the ones that they're not
01:58 involved and it just sends everybody to the next game against Chelsea away with the right
02:04 spirit and the right emotion and it's great. So, really happy.
02:08 It didn't impact the result in the end but Kovačević, good quality isn't it? Why did
02:16 you not straight red card or send it to yellow? What did you make of that situation?
02:19 I saw the action live and it looked a big challenge but I haven't seen the replay and
02:27 not bothered now. I just want to enjoy the win. I hear we will talk about it and understand
02:33 we have to do something about it but thankfully we managed to win the game.
02:36 City had four shots and you didn't take one on target. Is that testament to the work you
02:45 have been doing this week?
02:48 The players have to stand up there and execute against players that are top quality. We give
02:54 them something in the first two minutes with the corner and we almost score a goal. You
02:58 cannot give them anything. They can still earn it because they are top quality and they
03:02 can produce those moments any moment. We have discussed a lot about that. It is stressful
03:08 because they change constantly. They change the spaces, rotations. They are constantly
03:12 threatening you in certain areas and you have to be really, really aware of what they are
03:16 doing to try to match it up. And with the ball as well because they are provoking you
03:20 with certain things and you have to be patient. For David today it was tough because I knew
03:24 that the crowd at some stage could react like this. But it's what they demanded to do and
03:28 what we needed to do. We did it better than in the second half. We did it much better
03:32 and I think it was really helpful.
03:33 You have spoken for a long time about the run you have had against City not winning.
03:39 Do you get the impression, especially with the guys in there now, that a psychological
03:43 barrier has lifted?
03:44 Well I don't know if it was a barrier. Obviously it is something that we needed to go through.
03:51 To beat them first you have to lose against them. We have to lose probably the way we
03:54 lost at the Etihad because we lost in two different ways last season here when we were
03:59 the better team, especially in the first half. And then we conceded the goal on the back
04:04 pass of Tomi Yasuo and De Bruyne scoring. But the team showed that real maturity today.
04:08 That maturity comes from experiences and sometimes you need that to become a better team.
04:12 You mentioned Tomi Yasuo because you go to him and he looked on the side more defensively.
04:18 I just told him that. They put Doku there in the first moment after they changed him
04:25 to the other side and we made the change straight away. And then I see him as a left winger and
04:29 chasing the keeper. To be fair the shots were excellent again. They got involved in the
04:35 goal but they brought so much physicality and so much energy and quality to the team.
04:40 Miquel Favao won't be available at all today. Can I just check whether you expect him to
04:45 go away with him at all?
04:46 No he could not make it. He hasn't had a single training session so he will be out.
04:51 He's not available at all?
04:52 No he's not available to play football at the moment.
04:55 Can I just ask about the end of the day?
04:56 There was a bit of a clash between you and your starting XI at Man City.
04:58 Do you know what happened?
05:00 No I haven't seen anything.
05:01 Last couple and we'll go to Issam from Daily Mail.
05:05 Not early, obviously it's long, had a big impact on your side.
05:09 It was fantastic today. What kind of difference did you make off the bench?
05:12 Obviously you scored the winning goal there too.
05:15 Well he's been saying for a few weeks I'm going to be there against City.
05:18 Obviously everybody was saying Gary will be too early for you.
05:20 Yesterday he said, "Boss I told you I'm going to be ready for this."
05:24 And it happened that Leo after 30 minutes he felt something in his hamstring.
05:27 So when I turned around he was already ready to go with his kids.
05:30 So it's just the joy of a kid. His mentality is incredible at his age and it's just a joy to have
05:38 him because today he could change the game and he was really helpful for us to win the game.
05:43 You have the Rio Cup to finish it today but
05:46 amongst the crowd there were some whispers of him needing to get the ball out of the box.
05:50 Is that a concern at all?
05:54 It's my fault. All my fault. They can boo me because I ask him to do that and especially
05:58 against this team. You start to do other things and you get in big, big, big trouble.
06:02 I think he was excellent. I think the way he dominated his box,
06:07 the way he came up for crosses and set-pieces, the height that he played.
06:10 He's got big ones because with the crowd going like this, other players I've seen it,
06:15 they start to kick balls everywhere. I said to him, "You don't do that, make sure you don't do it."
06:19 And he didn't do it and at the end he got rewarded because the team
06:23 started to play much better than the game we wanted to play. So, big compliment to him.
06:27 As a team you defended exceptionally well.
06:37 I was thinking about that in the 90-second minute or two to go. We haven't had that many
06:42 and against the best team in the world we managed to do it. I think the application
06:45 and the love for defending today that we needed was there in every play. It was a necessity.
06:54 You concede against them afterwards, it's extremely difficult because they don't give
06:57 much away. So, really important.
06:59 - Thanks everyone.
07:00 Thanks everyone.
07:01 - Thank you.