Mikel Arteta was ‘really pleased’ with his Arsenal side’s performance in their 2-0 win over Leicester City at the King Power Stadium yesterday.
The Gunners came sprinting out the gates and took control of the tie, and their early goal only moved to pile pressure on the Foxes, who were made to look like the away team for large spells.
While goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale soaked up plenty of the plaudits, the reality is that every player deserved their place in the team and was impressive in their own right, and the manager was especially happy because of the opposition they faced.
“Some phases probably yes, because of the opponents we had in front of us and because to come here is tough,” Arteta told media after the final whistle as quoted at Arsenal.com.
“I am really pleased with the way we played, the character we showed right from the beginning, to be dominant and impose the game we wanted to play. There were moments as well when we had to suffer, they came at us, they changed the formation and they created some issues. You have to dig in and there were some big individual performances to get through those moments, but then we were able to change the game and the momentum again and get control and we could have scored the third one. So I am really pleased.”
It certainly was one of our most impressive performances, one that felt especially pleasing as I had the feeling it wasn’t going to be our day before kick-off.
The reality turned out to be way better than I had expected, with our side playing to a level that I wasn’t sure we had. Should we be able to find a consistent level anything close to that, we could well be on course for a swift return to the top four, but it is certainly early days before we can be confident of such a thing.
Patrick