Mikel Arteta has praised Arsenal’s mentality and display after their hard fought 1-0 win over Liverpool in Sunday’s Premier League thriller.
The Premier League champions moved back to the top of the standings with their first win at Anfield in 14 years, which also saw them surpass Manchester City and open a three-point gap at the top of the table.
The Gunners faced an in-form Liverpool side and were keen to quickly move on from their shock midweek defeat to Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup.
Kai Havertz’s first half strike from a Declan Rice assist saw them achieve this and seal their eighth win from nine league games.
Speaking post-match in an interview with SkySports, Arteta was impressed with his side’s defensive showing and grit to seal a very crucial win.
“It feels better as a manager [to win at Anfield], because it’s been such a long time. We really needed it. We’re extremely proud, especially because of the conditions we arrive in the game after defeat to Fleetwood. We had to pick ourselves up”, Arteta revealed.
“This is the mission, which we hadn’t completed for 14 years. We knew we needed to nail absolutely everything and navigate through periods where we suffer. They create chaos moments. It was very impressive and I’m very happy.”
Arsenal were very solid in defense and restricted Liverpool to no attempt on target in the entire clash, with their closest effort coming when Florian Wirtz hit the crossbar with a freekick attempt.
“I had the feeling, now is the moment, we had to dig deep and have an element of luck at times. We had quality in key moments and we’ve done it”, Arteta added.
Arsenal now hold a three-point gap at the top of the Premier League standings, following Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
The Gunners will now return to action on Wednesday night when they face Czech side Slavia Prague in the UEFA Champions League.
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