Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, was relieved to start off the new Premier League season with a win despite being dissatisfied with his team’s performance in the second half of their 2-1 triumph against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. The visitors fought back to cut the deficit to one goal during the match.
Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka scored for Arsenal to give them a 2-0 lead, but in the second half they pulled their foot off the throttle, which allowed Forest to score on the counterattack through Taiwo Awoniyi, setting up a tense final 15 minutes of the match. The match ended in a tie.
“Beating the opposition in the Premier League for the very first time is notoriously challenging. According to Arteta’s comments to TNT Sports, “I believe that we deserved to win.”
But we weren’t able to put the game away, and a score of 2-0 in the Premier League is a really precarious position to be in. After we failed to concentrate on the counterattack that followed the corner kick, they were able to score a goal. After that, the game was back in play, and they sent a large number of players into that area.
“We didn’t give up anything, but the feeling was, ‘Okay, we want the game to end and (take) the three points,'” the captain said.
The goal was scored by a combination of Anthony Elanga and Awoniyi, who were both substituted in by Forest manager Steve Cooper with Arsenal leading comfortably 2-0.
“It is impossible to give anything, but today we gave them some hope, and we gave them a goal to work toward.” And when something like that occurs against clubs in the Premier League, you simply cannot do it,” Arteta continued.
“I am very impressed with how well organized and competitive this squad is. They can be really rough when they want to be, and they don’t need much to put the ball in the back of the net.
However, Arteta commended Nketiah, noting that he had earned his position in the starting line-up in training after he did not make the cut for the team’s victory over Manchester City in the Community Shield.
“He is a clear example of what we’re going to need this season, a player that was very disappointed because I didn’t start him against Manchester City,” Arteta said. “He is a player that was very disappointed because I didn’t start him against Manchester City.”
“What he did was come on in that game, had a huge impact against City, trained like a beast this week, and told me, ‘I deserve to play.'” “What he did was come on in that game, had a huge impact against City, trained like a beast this week.” Therefore, I had no choice but to play him because he provided me with every reason imaginable in the form of a reaction to play.
“And when that happens, you come on the field and you score, and you play the way he’s done. Excellent illustration.”
However, according to Arteta, Nketiah will have to prove himself once more in order to regain his starting position in the upcoming match against Crystal Palace.