Mikel Arteta reacts to dramatic 4-2 win at Aston Villa
Mikel Arteta lauded Arsenal's "character, quality" and "personality" after the Gunners twice came from behind to earn a 4-2 victory away to Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.
Manchester City's 3-1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night nudged the Gunners off the Premier League summit for the first time since August. 63 hours later, Arteta's side kicked off against a Villa team under the stewardship of the former Gunners manager Unai Emery.
Ollie Watkins put the hosts ahead after five minutes and Philippe Coutinho cancelled out Bukayo Saka's equaliser to give Villa a 2-1 lead going into the half-time interval.
"Today I think we can take two big lessons," Arteta told the BBC post-game. "One, in the first half we did a lot of simple things wrong and give two shots away and concede two goals and don't do enough, especially with the ball."
After the break, Oleksandr Zinchenko fired the visitors level before chaos ensued in stoppage time. Jorginho's long-range rasper rebounded off the crossbar and onto the head of Villa's goalkeeper Emi Martinez - a former Arsenal player for a decade. With Martinez caught upfield at a Villa corner in the 98th minute, Gabriel Martinelli tucked a fourth into an empty net to seal three points for Arteta and his side.
Arteta continued: "And in the second half, when we raised the individual level, straightened up, we start to do the simple things right, changed a few things and get momentum and play the game that we want to play and totally merit to win the game.
"We talked about efficiency in the boxes that we lacked in the last two or three games. We [would] get more points and win games with bigger margins. Today was exactly the same but Jorginho produced an incredible moment," Arteta gushed. When the BBC interviewer informed him that it would go down as Emi Martinez's own goal, Arteta smiled: "Not for us. For us, it will be Jorginho's goal."
Arsenal would still have returned to the Premier League summit with a draw - however temporarily - but extended their lead to three points ahead of Manchester City before Pep Guardiola's side were held to a 1-1 draw by Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon. With a game in hand against Everton on the horizon, Arteta's side still has the title in their own hands.
"Psychologically it was really tough to get the result we got against City with the performance that we had," Arteta reflected in the bowels of Villa Park. "And less than three days later, in the morning, to come to this place, which is tough, and do it in the second half with the passion, with the physicality, with the rhythm and quality that we've done it, is a very difficult thing to do."
In an attempt to convey the conclusions he made from his side's late turnaround, Arteta said: "Character, quality, have the right temper and personality to stay in the game and don't start to throw toys away, leave spaces and get the third goal. And I think emotionally we coped with it really well."