Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta hailed his side’s crushing 4-1 victory over Spurs in the North London derby as a ‘turning point’ in the title race with Manchester City and said: ‘We showed what we were made of.’
The win moved Arsenal five points clear of City at the top of the Premier League and an emotional and jubilant Arteta hit back at those who had labelled his team ‘bottle-jobs’ after they threw away a two-goal lead at bottom club Wolves last week.
‘The whole team, I cannot be prouder and happier,’ Arteta said. ‘Not just for this match but for the way we lived the last 72 hours. It was tough after what happened against Wolves. There is no explanation for how the hell we drew that game. From any angle, you watch it back and say “it’s impossible”.
‘You have to lift yourself up because you are feeling angry, upset and ashamed. We all have different feelings but it has been a joy to spend the time together since and talk about what is going to happen in the next chapter and how we use it to be a turning point.
‘That was the focus. The way I was feeling after the Wolves game, it is bigger than a job. It’s our passion, the purpose we have and the objective we have.
‘And today, football shows you that, keep going, whatever you do, you win, keep going. If you lose, drop, keep going, because it is worth it, especially with the people that we have in this club.
‘We showed what we are made of but you have to show it again and again and again. A roller coaster ride is not possible. We are proud of the manner in which we won the game. We know what it means to us. We go again.’
Arteta was reminded that City boss Pep Guardiola had told his players on Saturday after they had beaten Newcastle that they could drink cocktails for the next few days. He was asked if he would now do the same. Arteta did not crack a smile. ‘I don’t drink cocktails,’ he said.
Mikel Arteta celebrates in front of the away fans at the final whistle on Sunday
Two goals from Eberechi Eze, to go with the hat-trick he scored against Spurs earlier in the season, and a brilliant brace from under-fire striker Viktor Gyokeres swept Tottenham and new caretaker coach Igor Tudor aside and left them just four points clear of the relegation zone.
Arteta admitted that Eze had been unhappy after he had been taken off during the recent draw at Brentford and left out of the starting line-up at Wolves.
‘He was upset with me,’ Arteta said, ‘but you have to show up it when it matters. When you are on the edge and people are doubting, you have to stand up and that is what he did.’
Tudor said that the defeat had been useful because it had shown him just how dire Spurs’ plight is.
He had said last week that the club was in an ‘emergency situation’ and he spoke as if the alarm bells were ringing even more loudly in his ears having seen his team play.
‘There was a big gap between the two teams,’ Tudor said. ‘Too much for us. It is nice to understand where we are. It shows the reality.
‘Now we have to stay quiet, stay humble and restart on Tuesday and work harder than we did until now to change our habits and the state of mind we have as a team.
‘The medicine is to look in the mirror and start to change the habits. Working hard is the only way. I saw the passion and the will. They were not able to do what we had prepared. Stay humble, that’s the key for each of us and try to become a team, a hard-working team.’
