Mikel Arteta admitted he was starting to fear the worst when Arsenal gifted Chelsea a late penalty with the score at 3-1 in their Boxing Day derby at the Emirates.
The Gunners came into the game on a seven-match winless run in the Premier League but were by far the better side when racing into a three-goal lead against a team who started the day 10 places above them in the table.
That glorious start appeared to be slipping away from them, however, as Tammy Abraham clawed one back and Mason Mount was hauled down in the box by Pablo Mari.
So when Arteta saw his goalkeeper Bernd Leno keep out Jorginho’s penalty there was only one word on his mind: relief.
“Of course [there is relief],” Arteta told Sky Sports, “because when you see everything that has been going against us – when you are playing with 10 men in so many games, the decisions, injuries, Covid, how unlucky we’ve been in a lot of games, you start to think ‘wow, what do we need to win a football match?’.
“So today when we conceded the penalty, I was thinking ‘this is not possible!’
“I think that’s the word: relief. And as well I’m proud of the players for the performance they put in and happy as well to give something back to our fans because I imagine they have been really disappointed with the results.”
The average age of Arsenal’s starting line-up against Chelsea was 25 years and 42 days -their youngest to win a Premier League game since a 6-1 victory over Southampton in 2012 and Arteta hopes the result can be a turning point in their season.
“Obviously this was a really big win for us,” he added. “We’ve been really disappointed and frustrated with results. Not so much with the performances, but with the results.
“The players were suffering, the fans were suffering and today was a really special day. It doesn’t get any better – Boxing Day, playing a London derby at the Emirates and winning in the way we’ve done it.
“Hopefully this is a turning point, it’s going to elevate the level of confidence of the team because I know they can play at this level, it’s how consistent we are throughout the game to sustain that.
“Chelsea, we know how good they are, but in big moments in the game we were the better team and that’s why we won.”
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/34KgOn1
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