Mikel Arteta said his side showed real desire as we downed Wigan Athletic 4-0 to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.
We netted four times inside 30 minutes to kill off the tie, courtesy of Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and an own goal, as we reached the last 16 for the first time since 2020.
Speaking about the first half goalscoring spree, Mikel said: "It was great. Straight away you could see that things were clicking. Players were really alive, really sharp. And yeah, we caused a lot of damage to them.
"Very happy we are in the next round. That’s what we wanted to achieve and I think the manner that we’ve done it as well, making a lot of changes. But the team showed a real desire first of all, which is the most important thing when you play these kinds of teams in the competition.
"Then cohesion, which normally is not there from the beginning because of the amount of changes that you’ve made. But the team, I think, played with a lot of intensity, great intentions to play forward, to constantly threaten the opposition, and we scored some incredible goals in the first half. That made a difference.
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The contest at Emirates Stadium also saw two home debuts for 16-year-old Marli Salmon, who replaced William Saliba, and Tommy Setford, who came for Kepa Arrizabalaga.
"Well, they deserve to be there, they are part of us," Mikel said. "They are with us every single day and they need to taste how it is. You want to have everybody involved and they need to feel that they have a chance to play."
The shutout was our 22nd clean sheet of the season as we took another step closer to reach Wembley. Mikel was happy to mark the occasion but attentions now turn to Wednesday night and a trip to Wolves.
He said: "It's a big number [22 clean sheet] obviously, and we’re still in February. So that’s the platform to win games. When you see we are 4-0 [up], the ball is over and 10 players sprinting back, that’s the desire that you have to play with.
"The excitement is just for tonight. Tomorrow we start with Wolves and we know how tough that game is going to be in the Premier League. So let’s keep going."
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