-
Arteta showered praise on Noni Madueke for his match-winning performance.
-
The Gunners have won 10 out of their 11 matches in all competitions this season.
-
Arteta accused Nottingham Forest of adopting a defensive style.
-
Arsenal will return to Premier League action against Everton on Saturday.
October 19, (THEWILL) – Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta, has leapt to the defence of his team following a hard-fought 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday at the City Ground.
The Gunners recorded just one shot on target, which resulted in Noni Madueke’s winner in the 80th minute. For the second time this season, Arsenal failed to record a shot on target in the first half.
The Premier League champions struggled for firepower in the clash. Arteta has blamed Nottingham Forest’s defensive style for his team’s inability to register more shots.
“I think we have played 11 competitive matches. We won 10. So we’re going to gain the variety of ways to win in many different contexts.
“We knew we wouldn’t score in the first 20, 30 minutes. We weren’t going to face a different Forest because they are extremely well coached. They put a Christmas tree there. There is no space to play. You have to be so neat and tidy.
“You have to otherwise generate a lot of chaos in the box, whether it is in open play or with set-pieces.
“We did it a couple of times and created two big chances. We didn’t even hit the target, which is the difference.
“And the longer the game goes, we say, ‘OK, now we have to play a different game because [at] the moment we start to ramp up our level of frustration. But we got the goal”, he said.
Madueke scored his first Premier League goal of the season; Arteta reserved special praise for the England winger, who was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s squad in the last International break.
“Noni, look at me, a smile on my face because he’s a special character. He’s someone very much loved in and around the dressing room, the way he connects, talks to people.
READ ALSO:
“He’s just a special guy. I think I saw an interview where they were asking a few of our players, ‘Who would you call if you have a problem?’
“And some of them said Noni, which I was surprised by. But I think it’s a massive credit and explains the kind of person that he is. He’s in a good moment.
“I think after the break, he’s showing something else, another level of anger, another level of conviction as well in his actions, and he’s becoming now decisive in matches, which is what we expect for a player like him.”
The Gunners had failed to win in their last two visits to the City Ground; Arteta described the victory as a ‘big win’.
“A big win. A win that we didn’t have in the last two seasons at a really tough place. We knew the game was going to be with small margins, especially if we were going to score in the first few minutes, which we didn’t do.
“There’s a team that is extremely difficult to break down. Almost everything has to be perfect, but you even need to take in the chaotic moments, which we had in the first half of a few, but we didn’t hit the target”, he added.
Arteta said being patient was key while explaining his substitutions before the winning goal.
He concluded: “Being very patient and being really convinced that at some point we were going to break them down.
“Because physically they could not maintain that level of organisation or discipline that they were having. And again, the finishers were critical. To hope for something else, a different kind of level of threat, especially in the last line, in and around the box; Jurrien brought the team much closer to the opposition half as well. Mikel, I think, was great; Viktor stretched them, and it was a nightmare for them. A really hard-fought win, but well-deserved.”
In a related development, Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya praised his teammates for showing desire and maturity to secure the win.
He said: “(We showed) maturity and a lot of desire. Keep doing the right things, and the ball will get into the net. We had experiences in the last two years where we drew 0-0 here, so I think we showed a lot of character to keep digging for the result, and in the end with a few crosses and a few of Bukayo’s balls, the ball went in thanks to Noni.”
The Gunners have won six out of their seven Premier League matches this season to occupy the second place on the log, three points behind leaders Man City.
Arsenal will be back in Premier League action against Everton at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
