For the second time in a week, Mikel Arteta was able to bask in the glow of a five-goal performance on the road.
After beating Sporting 5-1 in Portugal on Tuesday, we followed it up with a 5-2 win across London against West Ham.
All seven goals on Saturday were scored in the first-half, and after the match the manager was asked about the performance, injury concerns, set pieces, Saka and more. Here’s a full transcript…
**On a record-equalling seven first-half goals…**
I didn’t know that, but that tells you how crazy it was, how efficient both teams were in front of the goal. It was a spectacular 30 minutes. Straight away, how much the team wanted it, the purpose, the determination, the quality that we deliver, to score three great goals in different ways and then score the fourth one in a great way as well. But then after that, we had a period where the individual quality of them play a big part. 4-2, and then it’s game on, you can sense the energy change and then what’s next. I think it’s great to score the fifth one because that calmed everything down. For the second half, we could play a very different game, that it was much more suited to us.
**On Gabriel’s fitness…**
It was related to the previous injury that he had in Lisbon and obviously he did great to be part of that but with that result and with the niggle that he’s feeling, we decided to take him off.
**On Gabriel’s threat in the box…**
Obviously, he has real belief, the more it happens, the more you believe it, you can tell straight away, the body language from the player, how they communicate that something is coming up which is great and you have various ways of scoring goals it makes the team much more unpredictable, the opposition have to work on many more things so, it’s a good thing for us.
**On bringing our substitutes into the dressing room at the break…**
Very important, we had an issue with Gabi, we have an issue with Ricky as well, yesterday we lost Thomas and Mikel and Myles which was very bad news but what I'm really happy about is Jakub has to come in, he does really well. Alex the same, Jorginho, I thought he was exceptional today as well. That’s the level, every three days we’re going to need everybody at their best and it’s a good sign that the team can do that.
**On Leandro Trossard’s quality…**
And scoring, the fact that they know everybody is on their toes, everybody has to elevate their level and earn the right to play and when you have the chance, it’s the moment to talk and that’s what they’re doing.
**On whether Nicolas Jover should have a goal bonus…**
That's a question for him and his contract. I'm not sure. I don't negotiate contracts!
**On whether he feels confident in our form…**
Yeah, we've got some momentum. I think we have some flow back. a real determination winning three consecutive meetings against three opponents. It's great. And, yeah, we're going to enjoy tonight and watch a beautiful game of football tomorrow.
**On if Arsenal’s bad spell is fully behind them…**
We are in a great moment right now, but in football, be on your toes and be prepared the best possible way for tomorrow because it's so competitive. This league, the position that we are playing every three days, that's the only thing that you can do, you know, analyse what we've done really well. A lot of things to improve and still today, go again tomorrow.
**On Bukayo Saka’s goal contributions…**
Incredible. Because it's the hardest thing to do in football. So a player that can deliver those moments and impact the scoreline in that way, you know, the value of that is tremendous. And even if the opponent knows it, he continues to do it. And that's a big credit to him.
**On Bukayo Saka’s fitness…**
He's fine. He's fine. No problem.
**On Riccardo Calafiori coming off…**
Well, he's been with little niggles in the last few weeks. Obviously he had a very serious knee injury and he's doing really well, but we have to manage his minutes and today we have to do the same.
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