Mikel Arteta praised his players for rising to the occasion of the North London derby.
**Arsenal**reopened their lead at the top of the Premier League table to five points with a 4-1 triumph over Tottenham. Days after a 2-2 draw against Wolves, and less than 24 hours after **Man City**closed the gap to two points with a win over Newcastle United, Arteta’s side showed the fight they have.
“I think the whole team, I cannot be prouder and happier for what I've seen out there, but especially the way we lived the last 72 hours, because I think this game in particular needed some context.
“And after what happened against Wolves and the manner in which we lost two points in the last kick of the game, it was tough. But that's the beauty of this game. There is no explanation watching the game, for how the hell you draw that game, from any angle. You watch it back and say it's impossible, and you have to watch it again and say it's not going to happen, but it happened.
“And then you have to lift yourself up because you're feeling angry, upset, ashamed at some point.
“We are all different nationalities, we all have different feelings, and then you have to bring everybody together. It's been a joy to spend that time together with them, to align everybody and to say: 'OK, what is going to be happening in the next chapter?' This one is gone, how do we use it to be a turning point and to make ourselves better, and that was the focus, that was the intention.
“But after you have to do it on the pitch, and I think what we've done from the beginning to the end of the match. It was outstanding.
*“The way I could feel them after the [**Wolves*] game and the way I was feeling, it's much bigger - this is not a job. When you are disappointed about what you've done in your job, you don't feel that way, it's much bigger than that. That's our passion, it's the purpose that we have, the objective that we have is what we love doing, and that is very painful.
“But as well, it can be very rewarding, and today, football shows you that keep going - whatever you do, you win. Keep going. If you lose, drop. Keep going because it is worth it, especially with the people that we have in this club.
“The amount of games that we are playing, every competition is just incredible and today gives you a chance to actually take a little breath, analyse what we're doing and go again to the international break. That's when we're going to have a lot of games again.
“We've done great today, I think we're all very proud of the manner in which we won the game, not only the way that we performed and we know what it means to us. We go again.”