Arsenal spank Chelsea 3-1 in the big London Derby. What a brilliant way to pull yourself out of a slump, and to prove to all the naysayers that Arsenal were doing the right thing by sticking with Arteta.
Just like in the FA cup Final, Arsenal went into the game as long outsiders and yet again Arteta got the better of his fellow rookie Frank Lampard.
The boss was forced to make changes, but the youngsters he brought into the team played their socks off and will surely be playing a lot more often in the future, but Arteta took the opportunity to praise the whole squad, even those not playing. Arteta told Arsenal.com: “Well, I think it’s down to everybody because the senior players as well contributed in a different way, some on the pitch and some outside.
“Right when we were coming in on the bus I could sense the energy and how much we wanted it, it doesn’t get any better than to be playing the in the Premier League on Boxing Day in a London derby. I said that today we had to take this opportunity now to put some of the performances in the past where we didn’t have the results into everything, we needed a big performance to win against this team and we need the three points, and I think the boys, right from the beginning, did really well.”
It is the first happy after-game press conference we have seen in a long time, and long may it continue. Hopefully we should go into our next game against Brighton with a lot more confidence, and Arteta is well aware of how important this win was. He continued: “It’s a really important week for us. As I mentioned before, some of the performances haven’t been enough to win football matches and that is something difficult to handle over time.
“We needed the points, that is for sure, and today we have done it against one of the best teams in the league in a really convincing way. That shows that we are able to do it when we are at our best, can we do it every three days? That is the question mark to which we have to respond over the next week. But today we needed a lift, that confidence that we can come away from games with the points and the boys are delighted and I am really happy for them and of course for our fans, because there have been some difficult weeks.”
We all remember the euphoria we got from beating Man United, but then we had to wait two whole months to get to our next win. Surely that won’t happen again now will it?