We waited 14 years: Arteta comments on beating Liverpool and gives his view on the Premier League title race
What did the Spanish coach say?
Mikel Arteta hailed his players' fighting spirit after Arsenal edged Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield on Sunday evening, the Gunners boss brimming with pride following a hard-fought win in the ninth round of the Premier League.
The victory ended a long Anfield curse. Arsenal's last league win on Merseyside dated all the way back to 2012.
Arteta told "Sky Sports": "I'm extremely proud. It's been 14 years, which is a long time. I'm sure we made everyone who belongs to this club very proud today. Not just with the win, but with the way we achieved it, and with the fighting spirit we showed."
He added: "Considering what happened four days ago, when you lose and go out of the cup against a team you were supposed to beat. That is the magic of this game, it can take you to very bad places, but four days later you get the chance to make something historic, and we did it."
As reported by "BBC", he continued: "The flow of the match can change very quickly. Their attacking style is special, as they can launch vertical attacks even from a bad clearance or a wrong throw-in, that's their strength. And you have to be ready to respond immediately, to cover 60 metres to defend against four or five players storming towards your box."
"We discussed this, and we gave our best in those movements, sometimes with high quality, sometimes with lower quality, and we created chaos in our defence," he went on.
"But I also think we must praise the players," he said. "Overall, beating a team that delivers such a performance, and in the mental state that followed the Fleetwood match, is what a winning team must do."
On the atmosphere at Anfield, the Spaniard said: "You have to go through this experience, otherwise you won't win. We went through similar experiences in the past, but we couldn't hold on to them. We would make mistakes, or misread the play inside the box, or sometimes luck would favour them and they'd score a goal, but we couldn't win the match. Today, all these factors came together, along with some luck, and we had the quality at the right moments to hurt them."
Asked about the penalty Liverpool were denied for a shirt pull on Alexander Isak, he was blunt: "No, I didn't see it."
What does the win mean for the title race? Arteta refused to get carried away: "It's very early today. Let's enjoy this great victory with the players and the coaching staff, and tomorrow we'll begin preparing for another big night in Prague (the match against Slavia Prague in the Champions League)."
He concluded: "I'm extremely proud. This is something we strive to achieve. This is the challenge and the task we want to accomplish. I love winning when it's something we haven't achieved for many years. It was the same with Chelsea and Manchester United away from home. To be able to overcome all of these, that is the goal and the motivation, and that is the reason for what we do."
