Mikel Arteta attempted to use the memory of his side's dominant 4-1 triumph in the north London derby against Tottenham to motivate his players at half-time, though the second-half performance did not quite live up to that standard. The Spaniard revealed his dressing-room message after the final whistle, saying: "We started the game so well, the first half was very, very dominant. I think the margin, the scoreline, should have been bigger. But we were 1-1 [at half-time]. Game on. I reminded them that we were in the exact same position against Spurs seven days ago in that dressing room. I said, ‘Look what happened in the second half - so we're going to do it again’. But probably we're going to have to go through some difficult patches to earn the right to win the game. We certainly did that."
In the final moments, Arsenal relied on Raya to bail them out, with the goalkeeper making a sensational save to stop an Alejandro Garnacho cross from creeping into the far corner. Arteta admitted that the goalkeeper’s intervention was a lifesaver for his own stress levels. He said: "He (Raya) is a keeper that knows how to maintain his focus and decide a football match when you need it because sometimes he doesn't participate at all, and then in one action, you have to be there, and that's very, very difficult to do. The save that he made in the last action... it's a cross, not a shot, but he ended up with an unbelievable save. I got the right angle and my heart almost stopped, but David's hand was there to bring it back to life."