Arteta on 2 goals, clean sheet and victorious Arsenal

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on 2 goals, clean sheet and victorious Arsenal  04/12/2024  Emirates Stadium, London, UK

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00:00Very happy, a very special night celebrating 500 games in this incredible stadium against

00:10an opponent with so much history between the clubs and the teams and the way we played

00:16especially after tweaking a few things for the second half, how dominant we were, how

00:21convincing we were, not really conceding apart from the save of David after a very

00:27sloppy throwing, so a lot of positives.

00:30How important is it that threat? It's better than any other team in the league by a long way.

00:38Well, we need that. I think we want to be very dangerous and very effective from every

00:43angle and every phase of pace and we work on all of that. Today we could have scored

00:48from open play like we did against West Ham, against Sporting, so the team really has that

00:53belief that from every angle we have the mentality just to threat the opponent and

01:00to try to score. Today was two set pieces, we have 13 corners, so we have to take a lot

01:08from it.

01:09Are you and the players already starting to think in those sort of terms or is it just

01:16a case of getting on with it like at half-time?

01:20Well, we don't think about half-time how we are. I think we have to look at our own business,

01:25try to perform the way we are doing at the moment and find ways to win the game. I think

01:29the team deserves the win again today which is very good and what the opposition does

01:35we cannot control. You can see week in, week out, even if teams are winning how difficult

01:39it is for everybody.

01:40Aaron was just saying Ben that he thinks that Zafra and Martinelli deliberately go on the

01:47outside to deliberately win corners because they know they can score from corners. Is

01:52that part of your strategy?

01:55No, well I think we play with inverted wingers so they double up as well a lot of times inside

02:00so there's not a lot of space inside and when they leave there's a lot of space for the

02:04full-back or for the six and if not it's for the nine, if not you can go outside. So we

02:08need to look at every angle, what they do, where they can be weak and we can exploit

02:13the weakness of those oppositions.

02:15Do you think at times at Man Utd they just couldn't handle, even when you were missing

02:20Gebre, they couldn't handle you. Do you think teams do now fear even trying to give away

02:25a corner against you because they know?

02:27I don't know. We work on what we work, attacking the box in various ways. This is the way that

02:32we have, that we are very efficient so we'll continue to find ways to keep improving.

02:38Declan and Bukayo, when they walk over to take corners, they don't seem to be sprinting.

02:45Is that a deliberate tactic to build tension in the opposition ranks to give them time

02:51to work and to give your stadium time?

02:53The stadium reacted, something that we didn't plan. They react because they have beliefs

02:57and it's the same way that they react when we are on high pressure and we are with the

03:00ball because they know what we can do which is great. It creates that connection, that

03:04belief and easier for the players to deliver because that noise I think creates good things

03:10on us and difficult things in the opposition.

03:12Is it a deliberate approach to take a bit longer?

03:15No.

03:17You've been such a threat to set-pieces for so long, going back two or three years now

03:22that your numbers have been so good. Can you just talk a bit about what a skill that is

03:27to keep that going because everybody does the analysis, the teams know what's coming

03:32Is it constantly evolving to come up with new ideas and stay at the top?

03:36Yeah, well I think last year we scored the most goals in the history of this football

03:39club. Not because only the set-pieces, because a lot of things that we have. We want to create

03:44individual moments, magic moments. A lot of players can create their own goals. We can

03:48create goals on short counters, on long counters against the slow build-ups when we have to

03:53have restarts and the opportunity to open the opposition.

03:59Every single phase of play, let's maximise it, keep working on it, keep improving.

04:05You've been so persistent since the November international break. Do you think it's a message

04:10to the rest of the league that if teams do drop points in the start of the race that

04:13you're there?

04:15I don't know. We want to have the right to win the games and if we perform the way we

04:20are performing right now we're going to win a lot of games. But now it's about Fulham.

04:25We have to go there and we know the experience of last season and we're going to have to

04:29prepare really well to win there and continue to do that. The rest, we don't know.

04:39Big credit to Jakub and Alex. I think it's the first start for Jakub after a long time.

04:45You have to be strong against this kind of opposition, this kind of front players. The

04:49same with Alex and they did magnificently well.

04:52Great. We trust them. They prepare so well. They have the opportunity. They grab it with

04:56both hands. Very pleased for the team.

05:00Gabi was a big risk to play in today because he felt something against West Ham. Sunday

05:05is going to be a possibility with Ricky as well. Let's see how he reacts.

05:10Can I just ask a quick question about the response from the four games without victory?

05:18Four straight consecutive victories. That says quite a lot about the resilience of the

05:25squad and the team.

05:28The will to win is there. We try all our best to do that. It's true that we went through

05:35a lot in that period. The schedule and the opposition that we played. A lot of things.

05:40That's how you have to react. It's about trying to do it next. Today we won four in

05:44a row. It doesn't matter. We have to go to Fulham now and be better than them to try

05:48to win the game. It's every three days. It's a crazy schedule. We're going to need everybody

05:54and mentally be very strong because you're going to have to go through those moments.

05:58Is there ever a process that you take maybe some of that external negativity that you

06:02may have got criticism as fuel for those moments moving forward?

06:10Me personally? No. I don't know the team. There is no more fuel than my own one to have

06:16the desire to work as much as I can in the most efficient way to try to win and help

06:22these boys to enjoy what they do and give them the chance to win games.

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