Mikel Arteta half-time team talk inspired Arsenal comeback with Villa furious

19 February 2023 , 04:00

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Arsenal enjoyed a near-perfect day on Saturday, with a stunning 4-2 win over Aston Villa followed by Manchester City dropping points against Nottingham Forest.

Emiliano Martinez’s own goal and Gabriel Martinelli’s tap-in on the counter-attack ensured the Gunners claimed all three points in added time at Villa Park. The result ended a run of four games without a victory and was made even sweeter by City’s 1-1 draw at Forest later in the day.

Mikel Arteta’s side had to dig deep against Villa, who twice took the lead through goals from Ollie Watkins and Philippe Coutinho before Bukayo Saka and Oleksandr Zinchenko equalised. The result was ideal for the away side, but it caused plenty of fallout for Villa.

With that in mind, here is the latest news from the world of Arsenal.

Arteta inspires comeback

Arteta has been through a tricky period with his Arsenal team of late, with the 3-1 defeat by Manchester City on Wednesday deflating the positive atmosphere around the club.

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It came back with a bang against Villa, with Jorginho’s effort hitting the woodwork and going in off Martinez to give the Gunners a huge three points. Arteta revealed after the match what he said to his players at half-time to keep them going, just 63 hours after the defeat by City.

“It’s been a roller-coaster and it was emotional at the end. We showed a lot of resilience, quality and character,” Arteta said.

“At half-time I said to the guys: ‘We have to look each other in the face and do much more if we want to win this game. We altered one or two things and produced a very strong performance and should have won it earlier than we did.”

Villa fury at Arsenal celebrations

Arsenal's celebrations caused anger from the Aston Villa staff (David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

It was a joy for Arsenal, but anger for Aston Villa. Former Gunners manager Unai Emery was left to rage about Martinez’s “embarrassing” decision to head up the pitch for a last-minute corner and leave his goal unguarded.

And there was palpable fury in the stands at Villa Park, where Arsenal’s analysts almost got into a physical altercation with their Villa counterparts. Villa match analyst Victor Manas had to be held back from Arsenal counterpart Miguel Molina.

Stewards had to get involved to separate the furious members of staff, with an Arsenal employee kicked out of the area.

Arteta said: "Anything that happens in the stands, we will look at it and address it."

Read the full story here.

Arteta urged to replace weak link

Gabriel Magalhaes was fortunate not to give away a penalty against Manchester City on Wednesday (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

While it was a wholly positive day for Arsenal on Saturday, there was one element that drew attention from the pundits.

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Gabriel Magalhaes has started all 23 Premier League matches this season alongside William Saliba, but Alan Smith remains unconvinced by the Brazilian.

“Gabriel would be a concern for Arteta in the future. He can be so emotional on these occasions and that can affect his game,” Smith told Bestgamblingsites.com. “If you look at [William] Saliba, you hardly notice him because he’s so calm. He does the simple things really effectively.

“Whereas Gabriel catches the eye for a number of reasons and I think it’s something Arteta will consider if he can rely on him going into these big games. That’s an issue for Arsenal I think.”