Mikel Arteta has said that he is ‘really happy’ after his side defeated Bodo/Glimt on Thursday night to go top of Europa League Group A despite this only being their second group game of the tournament.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 06: Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal embraces Kjetil Knutsen, Head Coach of FK Bodo/Glimt prior to the UEFA Europa League group A match between Arsenal FC and FK Bodo/Glimt at Emirates Stadium on October 06, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 06: Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal embraces Kjetil Knutsen, Head Coach of FK Bodo/Glimt prior to the UEFA Europa League group A match between Arsenal FC and FK Bodo/Glimt at Emirates Stadium on October 06, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Arsenal’s Group A opponents, Bodo/Glimt, came to the Emirates to avoid making the same mistakes as Tottenham.

Speaking before the game, their manager Kjetil Knutsen was full of praise for Mikel Arteta’s side, but also believed he knew the answer to avoiding defeat – do more than just try to defend.

His two-named team certainly performed like two different sides in either half. Nerves seemed to get the best of Bodo in the first, but Glimt came out for the second with a much better performance.

Still, their fate was the same as Tottenham’s – defeat and three goals conceded.

I checked for a post-match reaction from Knutsen, but there was next to nothing to be found on Twitter, BT Sport, UEFA, Google, or even Bodo/Glimt’s own website.

After the match, Arteta spoke of his happiness, naming three things that contributed to his sense of joy.

“I’m really happy,” Arteta said. “Today we played a different opponent, a difficult opponent, I mentioned that before and I think everybody saw that.

“We made a lot of changes, eight I think, and I’m really happy winning the game, scoring three goals and a clean sheet, but overall as well you could sense in certain moments that that connection, that timing – this needed time on the pitch. It was a little bit missing in certain moments to be more dominant in the game.”

Next up for Arsenal is another home game, this time against Liverpool, before a trip to Norway for the return Bodo/Glimt match in the Europa League.

After that, there are another five games left in the month with Arsenal playing nine times in October. They have only four matches in November before domestic football stops for the World Cup in Qatar.