It was an eventful night at Emirates Stadium as we had to come from behind to knock Crystal Palace out of the Carabao Cup, but overall Mikel Arteta was delighted with his team’s win.
“Yeah, I was very happy for various reasons,” he told us after the game. “The first one obviously because we’re in the semi-final of a competition that we want to win. The game started in a very difficult way with a very naïve goal that we gave away and put the situation into a complicated one. After that spell in the first half that we didn’t have that continuous momentum to create threat and opportunities, we made some changes and some adjustments in the way we had to play, and we became a real threat.
“On top of that, obviously, a big night for Gabby, a big night for a player that constantly tries and is not someone that is going to keep anything for himself – he tries to give his best to the team. Today, he produced three great moments, helped us to obviously win the game. And for other players like Kieran, like Raz [Raheem], that hasn’t played many minutes, that they feel important and feel they can contribute to the team in the right way, so a good night.”
Two of Mikel’s second half substitutions delivered the goods for Gabby as Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka both registered assists for our hat-trick hero.
“Yes, we needed something else and made a few changes and it certainly changed the game,” Mikel explained. “That’s what we need when players come off the bench to have that mentality to impact and make things happen, they were really helpful.”
We’ve now gone 16 games unbeaten at Emirates Stadium and our home was absolutely rocking, particularly in the second half as the performance lifted the spirits of supporters in the ground.
“It was great, an incredible atmosphere,” Mikel added. “Obviously, when the team is producing that energy, that commitment, that will every three days, the way the boys try to go about it, it’s phenomenal. I really appreciate it because it really changed the game, that energy.”
When the team news came out at 6.30pm, one of the most interesting talking points was a first appearance for Kieran Tierney since the 2023 Community Shield.
Our full-back has had a unique journey, going out on loan to Real Sociedad in La Liga last season and playing for Scotland at Euro 2024, before coming back into our side.
“That’s the beauty of football – sometimes it goes in circles,” Mikel said. “He had to leave and have a loan spell, after a long, long injury as well and day-by-day has earned the right to get some trust from us again that he could help us, that he could be very important for the team, he could impact the team and tonight, he’s certainly done that.”
Looming ahead, we’re off to Selhurst Park this weekend to take on Crystal Palace again, and Mikel is expecting another tough test.
“That’s right! Let’s prepare for the game again, review it, [there’ll be] a few tweaks that I imagine both teams will make and try to be better than them to beat them.”
