Mikel Arteta explains how he inspired Arsenal comeback against Aston Villa
By Tom Gott
Mikel Arteta has revealed what he told his Arsenal players as they came from behind to secure a massive 4-2 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday.
The Gunners came into the game winless in their last four, having invited Manchester City back into the title race, and twice fell behind to Villa in the first half as they entered the interval 2-1 down.
Oleksandr Zinchenko equalised on the hour mark before the latest of late own goals from Emiliano Martinez turned the game on its head. Gabriel Martinelli tapped in a fourth in the dying embers to confirm a massive three points for Arsenal.
After the game, Arteta told talkSPORT about his half-time team talk.
"At half-time I had to tell them, ‘What I said a few days ago is not because I think something is different, you have to do it and the moment is now, after 45 minutes it’s gone’ and they really reacted."
On this episode of The Chronicles of a Gooner, part of the 90min podcast network, Harry Symeou reacts to Arsenal's thrilling 4-2 comeback win over Aston Villa after a difficult couple of weeks that saw the Gunners go winless in four.
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
Asked if he told the squad that they simply had to win, Arteta added: "It’s now, it’s now, it’s now. After that, it’s looking at each other, ‘we should have done that’."
Arteta's words clearly had an impact on Zinchenko, who credited the boss' impact at the break for inspiring the turnaround.
“The manager said the right words at half time," Zinchenko explained. "What we needed to do on the pitch in the second half. Everyone wanted to get back out onto the pitch as soon as possible, we went out of the door even before the whistle.
“That was a good reaction from all of us. Nobody went down, everyone wanted to get the ball, show courage to win the game and we showed it in the second half.”