Mikel Arteta leaves the Emirates Stadium this evening with a bigger smile on his face than one Erik ten Hag could afford. With a game in-hand over Man City, the Gunners currently hold a 5-point lead over Man City, who are placed in second.
The Spaniard’s side beat United 3-2 with a late goal thanks to Eddie Nketiah. It was the striker’s second of the game.
Ultimately, Arsenal having their full strength side — bar Gabriel Jesus — paid dividends for the hosts. United were without Casemiro and it showed.
Though, we can take nothing away from Arsenal. I felt we deserved the draw but they were pushing for that late goal at a time our midfield looked like they couldn’t breathe.
Afterwards, Arteta was asked about the jubilant atmosphere and whether he’s ever experienced anything like it before.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think it gets better much better than that,” Arteta said, as per football.london.
“It was a beautiful moment, a really special one because we were pushing and pushing and pushing and it wasn’t coming.
“It came at the end – VAR made it more difficult – but it was electric and really emotional and really passionate and I loved it.”
It comes as a blow for United – but, at the same time, today was a bit of a free hit after the Newcastle result on Saturday. I never thought we were in the title race picture so I don’t feel losing to Arsenal away from home is the end of the world.
We beat them at home and that was another close encounter between the sides.