Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta hailed the ‘magic moments’ in their 4-0 win over Everton to put them five points clear at the top of the Premier League table. The Gunners had a tough opening 40 minutes against Sean Dyche’s side, but Bukayo Saka’s magnificent opener, rifled home from Oleksandr Zinchenko’s clever pass soon before half-time, set them up for a dominant victory. Gabriel Martinelli added a second in first-half stoppage time after a VAR check declared him onside after being flagged offside, and Martin Odegaard scored the third in the second half before the Brazilian added his second to seal the win.
“I’m overjoyed. It was the game we were playing against an opponent we knew would make life difficult for us. That happened to us at Goodison Park,” Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta said. “We started the game frustrated, not really understanding what we had to do, allowing them to run in certain transitions, but I think after 20 or 25 minutes we started to get much better, and I think the timing of the first two goals was critical. We wanted a magical moment, and Alex [Zinchenko] and ‘B’ [Bukayo Saka] delivered. Because Jorgi wasn’t feeling well today, the team enlarged, notably with Thomas [Partey]. When he came on, he gave the squad some presence and stability, and I thought the second half was fantastic.”
Saka and Martinelli’s goals this season propelled them both into double figures in the Premier League, with their boss complimenting their eagerness to learn and grow. Arsenal have now won three games in a row after a three-game losing drought allowed Manchester City to temporarily overtake them at the top of the table, but Arteta believes he never doubted his players’ capacity to recover.
“When you look at them every day and see how much you want it, and how much they genuinely want to produce what we ask of them, and how much they want to please our people, I had no worries that we would turn things around. I’m quite happy with where the team is right now,” he added.
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