“We had to be patient” — Mikel Arteta on Arsenal win

In his post-match press conference against Nottingham Forest, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta expressed his satisfaction with both the performance and result of his team following a decisive 2-1 victory away at the City Ground.

Goals from Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka helped salvage the win for Arsenal, with Taiwo Awoniyi netting the sole goal for Forest in the 89th minute to keep things interesting before full time whistle

Reflecting on the match, he revealed,

“I’m really happy with the performance and with the result. It was still in our tummy, what happened here last year, and we wanted to put it right.”

The manager emphasized the team’s desire to build momentum in the league, stating,

“We want to generate some momentum now in the league. I think we’ve got that, and the performance was very good.”

Describing the dominance of Arsenal in the game, the manager noted,

“I thought we completely dominated the game. We had to be patient… we didn’t allow them to run. And we were able to generate chances in various ways, which is really pleasing to see for the team.”

While praising the team’s maturity in managing the game effectively, the manager acknowledged the challenges of the league, stating,

“I think we showed a lot of maturity to deal with the game in the way that we had to, but in the last three, four minutes, we conceded a goal – and then you have to suffer in this league.”

Addressing the goalless first half despite dominating possession, the manager shared the halftime message, saying,

“To continue to do [what we did], to have a lot of discipline in what we want to do, to be more perseverant and more consistent and to take chances to be positive and go for it.

“The spaces are minimal when you have that many players around the box – and the intensity that they are able to generate on both sides is very difficult to break down. At the end, we found a way.”