Arsenal came from behind to beat Liverpool on Wednesday night to the shock of just about everybody watching, especially as the champions were the ones defending like idiots.
Arsenal didn’t win this game because they were better than Liverpool, they simply made fewer mistakes. On those small margins, huge confidence is built. Whether we can sustain through whatever happens on Saturday is another matter for another day.
For now, it’s all about our unlikely win.
Speaking after Wednesday night’s game, Arteta was asked about Liverpool’s two mistakes.
“It’s part of football,” he replied.
“It’s a team sport but there are a lot of individual moments and battles that have to be played. Today we forced mistakes and they made them. Obviously that makes the difference in a big game.
“Unfortunately with the level of dominance, the way they control every aspect of the game, there are going to be little moments or big moments where you’re going to have to defend very close to your area and we knew that.
“We prepared for that and the boys were terrific. Sometimes we did it really well and sometimes we had moments of luck as well.
“If you want to win these games at the moment, with the difference of the two teams, we need to put everything on the line to get the points. I am really pleased because they can do it. It’s about keeping the right spirit and level of attention and I’m delighted that we’ve done it today.
“It wasn’t part of the gameplan obviously [to not see much possession] but at the moment you can see in many areas the gap between the two teams, what we have to achieve and the areas we have to improve.
“Certainly there is one area that we’ve caught them on and it’s the belief, the accountability, the passion… they play for every single ball. With that we can beat a lot of teams.
“Against Tottenham we had total dominance for several periods and we lost the game, so we will find the right balance but credit for them as well for what they have achieved.”
Arsenal have just two league games left and currently sit in 9th place, two points behind Spurs and and one behind Sheffield United who have a game in hand. In their final few games, Spurs face a free-falling Leicester City and a safe Crystal Palace.
Arsenal have to play Aston Villa and Watford.