Mikel Arteta watched as Arsenal collected another win on their hopeful path to the Premier League title, and he’ll like the attacking side of his Gunners’ 3-2 win at Bournemouth on Saturday.
Declan Rice scored twice, once off a Martin Odegaard feed and another assisted by Bukayo Saka, after Gabriel Magalhaes had opened Arsenal’s account to level the game at one.
MORE — Bournemouth v Arsenal recap, video highlights
But Magalhaes made a huge gaffe to set up Evanilson’s opener and the Gunners let Bournemouth back within one when Eli Junior Kroupi narrowed their advantage late in the second half.
Still, Arteta should mostly be happy with his team’s performance as they won yet again to stay atop the Premier League table.
Mikel Arteta reaction — Arsenal boss speaks after win at Bournemouth
Thoughts on the game? “Very happy. We knew the difficulty of the match. They are a team that is constantly stretching you, asking you questions. They are so good at attracting you to make the right play and the right duel. We made it even harder for ourselves in the manner we conceding the first one. I love the character of the team and the character of Gabriel in how we overcame that.”
Gabriel’s response to gaffe: “When you talk about presence, being dominant, and authoritative. That’s probably the player that represents that in this team. And you have to lead by example. You can’t demand that of the rest and then if something happens to you, don’t do it. Today’s example it’s a great one.”
First 15 minutes of second half you’ve been so good: “We try to learn from what happened in the first half and tried to improve it. You can gather a lot of information and try to change the game or give them the tools to do it. The players have to use it.”
Long month ahead: “A lot. First of all to understand what they are doing because of what they had in November-December and what’s ahead in January. You see how they celebrate every action and that’s what we’re going to need.”
Declan Rice reaction — Brace-bagging midfielder on comeback win
Different sort of win from Villa game: “Bournemouth at this stadium, I’d read somewhere that they’d only conceding six here. With the attacking threat that they have and the manager, we knew it was going to be tough. To pick up the three points in the way we’ve done it after not the best first half from us was a really important win.”
Character of the team: “Massive. It shows the character of Gabriel to make the mistake and respond as the mentality of the team. We came back in the second half but again we let in a sloppy goal. Great finish.”
Brace: “Crazy. I’ve been in situations in the game where I’d had one in the game and I wanted to grab another and couldn’t. It’s a crucial one because Christmastime, the fixtures come thick and fast and to help the team out with two goals in massive because we’re going to need everyone chipping in at different points.”
Hat trick hopes: “I had to. I was thinking one more cut back to me please. Bournemouth for the next 15 minutes played really well and shut that space off, so I was gutted not to get the hat trick.”
