Eberechi Eze torments Tottenham again as Arsenal bounce back in title race

Mikel Arteta believes his Arsenal side showed “what we are made of” by hammering Tottenham four days after the draw at Wolves left the Spaniard feeling “ashamed”. 

Arsenal threw away a 2-0 lead at Wolves, which led to concerns they would again throw away their lead at the top of the table. But the Arsenal manager said he and his team were determined to use the result as a “turning point” and get their faltering Premier League title challenge back on track.

Arsenal will believe they achieved that with the convincing 4-1 win away to Tottenham, which re-established their lead over Manchester City at the top of the table back to five points, having played a game more.

Afterwards, Arteta also offered some insight into how it felt for him, the players and staff following the Wolves game and declared that everyone needed a little “love”.

“After what happened against Wolves and the manner that we lost two points in the last kick of the game, it was tough,” he said. “But that’s the beauty of this game, I mean, there is no explanation watching the game back, how the hell you draw that game. From any angle, you watch it back and say it’s impossible, and you have to watch it again and say it’s not going to happen.

“But it happened, and then you have to lift yourself up because you’re feeling angry, upset, [and] ashamed at some point. And we are all different nationalities, we all have different feelings, and then you have to bring everybody together. And it’s been a joy to spend that time together with them, to align everybody and to say, ‘OK, what is going to be happening in the next chapter?’

“This one is gone, how we use it to be a turning point and to make ourselves better. And that was the focus, that was the intention. But after you have to live on the pitch, and I think what we’ve done from the beginning to the end of the match (against Spurs), it was outstanding.

“It feels like we’ve shown what we are made of but then you have to show it again and again and again, because if you have to just analyse how you feel after every game, I mean it’s a massive rollercoaster and it’s not sustainable. So, we’ve done great today, I think we’re all very proud of the manner in which we won the game, not only the way that we performed and we know what it means to us. We go again.”