Mikel Arteta praised Arsenal’s mentality and “initiative” after Viktor Gyökeres and Eberechi Eze both scored twice in a 4-1 North London Derby win at Tottenham that steadied the Premier League title race.
By full-time at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the scoreline, and the body language, told its own story. Arsenal’s players were celebrating in front of the away end after a 4-1 North London Derby win, while Spurs trudged off to another inquest. After the midweek collapse at Wolves, this felt like a deliberate answer.
Mikel Arteta’s reaction underlined that. Speaking afterwards to BBC Sport, he said he was “really happy, really proud about how we approached the game,” highlighting the “initiative and the quality we showed” to come away with such a convincing win.
He repeatedly framed the performance as a response to Molineux. Arteta admitted he had looked back at Wolves, wondering how Arsenal managed to draw from such a dominant position, but stressed that “the reaction of the boys” in the derby was what mattered now. With ten league matches still to play, his message was that this has to be the standard, not a one-off.
Eberechi Eze again turned the derby into his stage, adding two more goals to the hat-trick he scored against Spurs at the Emirates earlier in the season. After the game, he told Sky Sports: “Today it’s worked out, we thank God for it. We put in a good performance. We did what we needed to do today, which was the main thing.”
Asked if it was a reaction to dropped points, he didn’t hesitate. “For sure, that’s the main thing,” he said. “We know what we’re capable of… we have to play games to dominate and to win.” He went on to explain that he is “always trying to get in those positions, to find the space and work hard to get those opportunities,” a line that summed up both of his close-range finishes.
Eze also moved quickly to share the spotlight with Viktor Gyökeres, whose brace bookended the second half. “Vik was hoping that all game,” he said. “You can see how much he helps the team – not just with his goals, but the effort he puts in and how he puts players like me in good positions.”
Gyökeres described it as “a very good performance”, but still found room for self-critique. “In some aspects, I think it was a good one, and in some others I could have done a bit better,”
Arteta picked out the Swede as “outstanding”, saying there had been “glimpses” of this level in recent weeks but that this was a complete display, and praised Eze for the belief he carries into this fixture and the way he is “trying to mould and adapt” to Arsenal’s demands.