Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has heaped praise on his troops after bagging their fifth English Premier League win over Aston Villa on Wednesday night.
The Gunners opened the scoring through an error by former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez who had earlier gifted Gabriel Jesus the opener as Steven Gerrard’s side slipped to a fourth defeat.
Villa would score an equaliser through Douglas Luiz in the 74th minute, but Arteta was impressed with his men as they responded swiftly.
They levelled the matters three minutes later courtesy of substitute Douglas Luiz who scored directly from a corner but Gabriel Martinelli’s winner came just three minutes later.
“That’s the mentality we want to show as a team and the character we want to show, to react immediately,” said Arteta.
“The disappointment of conceding goals is part of the game, like giving the ball away or having a bad action is.
“It’s about the next action, the next phase, and again when you play in front of this crowd that helps. The energy they generate is just amazing.
“We are really happy because we are winning football matches that we deserve to win the way we are performing and playing. We need to continue.
“As I always said I think there are a lot of things that we can improve and you could see that in the second half.
“But the way we played in the first half – the amount of chances, how dominant we were, the energy that we played with – is really pleasing as a coach. Go to the next one.”
Up next for the former EPL champions is a gigantic clash against a revived Manchester United away from home on Sunday, September 04.
Meanwhile, the 12th placed Red Devils are in action on Thursday night away to Leicester City at King Power Stadium and the game gets underway at 21:00.
After beating the Villains, the English side now sits at the summit of the log table with 15 points from five consecutive wins and trails defending champions, Manchester City by two points.
Pep Guardiola’s men defeated a lacklustre Nottingham Forest 6-0 at Etihad Stadium on the same night where new acquisition, Erling Haaland netted his second hat trick in a row.
Main Image: Mikel Arteta/Football London