We will sit top of the Premier League at Christmas following our 1-0 win at Everton on Saturday night, with Viktor Gyokeres' penalty enough for the three points from the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Mikel Arteta addressed the media on Merseyside after the final whistle, and discussed the importance of the result, another goal for our Swedish striker, and had some interesting words about his former side Everton.
Read every word below...
On the result:
Very happy with the result, with big parts of the performance against a team that's very difficult to beat, really well organised, they can really stretch you in the way they play. The game can become chaotic, we didn't allow that to happen except for one sequence of two corners and one throw-in after we kicked the ball out of play.
In the second half, we had three massive chances to score a second goal or the third one, we didn't do it. You can suffer at the end, we didn't because we haven't conceded anything but overall the margins maybe could have been bigger.
On Viktor Gyokeres’ goal:
Very happy for him. They took ownership on the pitch between Martin, Bukayo and him to decide who was the taker, and they made a great decision because Viktor put the ball in the back of the net.
On Declan Rice’s performance:
Unbelievable, his all-round play, his leadership on the pitch, the amount of balls that he regained as well that allowed us to run; he has been incredibly consistent this year again, and what a massive player for us he is.
On if Arsenal were lucky not to concede a penalty:
I know they checked it, I haven't seen the image, I haven't seen even our penalty as well, so I don't know. They made a decision, we are all involved in a lot of situations in the box so I don't want to really comment too much on that.
On Martin Odegaard giving Gyokeres the penalty, and if it shows selflessness:
Great decision! Yes, I agree with that and as well the confidence of the player because obviously he practises every day and he's unbelievable at it and he put the ball in the back of the net, so I love when players take ownership and decide by themselves what is the best decision. That's something really positive.
On Odegaard’s performance:
Yes, he was much more vertical as well. We found some spaces, we found him to have more vertical attacks as well the moment they started to get more aggressive in their press and in those moments we should have decided the game a bit earlier.
On being top of the Premier League at Christmas:
What gives me belief and confidence is the level of performance and the consistency of that. That's very, very difficult to do in this league and that means that the team is constantly there. Enjoy the process of winning and you're going to have to go to difficult places, you're going to have difficult moments, we have dealt with a lot of things already and we are there. And what we're going to do is work for the next game, try to improve and make sure that everybody is with that spirit and energy and enjoying that.
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Arteta delighted with hard-fought Everton victory](https://www.arsenal.com/news/arteta-delighted-hard-fought-everton-victory?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
On recent games being tight:
Yes, but okay, we hit the post twice. With players that are normally in those positions, they're going to put the ball in the net. But it is what it is, we have to try, we have to continue. The more we insist, the more will happen and the margins will be bigger. And that's what we have to try to do.
On the tempo of the game:
At the end of the day, you have to dominate the tempo of the game. In order to do that you have to understand what the game requires: when you have to play really fast, when you have to slow the game down. If you provoke the things that you want to provoke with the ball, it's right. But sometimes when you have to be more incisive, more aggressive, you have to speed up the game, and today we had moments that we read that really well and other times that we were a bit hesitant to make the right decision. And that's something that we can improve.
On the difference in approach from the win over Wolves:
Well, against Wolves we generated many more entrances in the box and when we reviewed the match, the amount of situations that we had, overloads in the box and the ball doesn’t arrive in the right spot, it was unbelievable. And without really conceding anything until the last cross. Again, the margin should have been bigger, but that's what we have to do. Learn while we are winning.
Before I leave, I want to congratulate everybody at this football club, at Everton. Everybody has contributed to building this amazing stadium because it was incredible to witness.
Not only the way they've done it, the atmosphere that they've created. Someone who is an ex-player and someone that supports this club, congratulations to all of them.
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Highlights: Everton 0-1 Arsenal](https://www.arsenal.com/news/highlights-everton-0-1-arsenal-0?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
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