Arteta ‘proud’ as Arsenal edge past Fulham to reclaim top spot

Arsenal returned to the top of the table, moving three points clear of Manchester City, after a hard-fought 1–0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage. Manager Mikel Arteta praised his side’s performance following a physically demanding contest against their London rivals.

“The recent history wasn’t in our favour, and we wanted to change that like we did against Newcastle and West Ham at home, and that’s another step, having that mindset and that ability to win these kinds of matches against an excellent opposition, a challenging place to come,” said the head coach.

“Especially the first 10 to 15 minutes, it took us a while to get into the game with some very unusual giveaways that had caused some transitions, and after that, we started to dominate the game throughout the rest of the game much better.

“We talked about knocking on the door against this team; they are really well organised, especially with the context of the result. The more it dragged on, we were better and better and managed to win the game and another clean sheet.” 

Another well-worked set piece proved the difference, earning the Gunners a vital three points – something Arteta was particularly pleased with.

“Obviously, we generate so many set pieces, so you have to start from there, and we generate so many that we have to understand,” said the 43-year-old.

“Against these low blocks when they don’t really want to drop and commit that many players there, we have another opportunity to put the players that we want in the position that we want with the role that we want, and we need to exploit that. We could have exploited it today in different ways, but in the end, it was a set piece, so more than welcome.”

A controversial penalty decision went in favour of the opposition after Bukayo Saka’s spot-kick was overturned by VAR. Arteta admitted he was confused by the call but chose not to reveal too much in his post-match comments.

“Regarding the penalty, I was getting a bit animated because obviously, if it’s clear and obvious or not, that’s where VAR has to intervene. 

“It was taking so long, and then Anthony [Taylor] was taking so long, and he explained the reason why he took so long on the screen.

“It had nothing to do with the process; it was the screen that wasn’t working. So that’s fine. I think what I heard is that it probably wasn’t a penalty, so probably they made the right decision, and I was just animated because of the process, that’s it.”