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After adding three victories in a row, the Spaniard believes that the pressure has finally been taken off his team
Mikel Arteta believes that Arsenal can play freely now that they have turned the corner in poor form.
The Gunners recorded three Premier League victories in the space of eight days with a 4-0 win over West Bromwich Albion in a snow-covered Hawthorns.
Alexandre Lacazette hit a second-half double in the space of four minutes to send Arsenal 11th in the table, after Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka opened a lead at the break.
The three-win streak ends a seven-game winless streak and Arteta hopes to have seen the end of his team’s run of miserable results.
“I hope so, at least the energy and convincing momentum that you get from everyone involved, is much more positive,” Arteta said.
“At the end of the day, he wasn’t that concerned about the performances.
“I think we lost games when we were very unlucky and most of them were our fault because we made some mistakes and we lack some discipline at certain times.
“But you need to win football games and now this brings a different momentum, a different energy, and now the players release the handbrake and you can see that they are more free to play.”
Arsenal faced not only Sam Allardyce’s compact five-man defense in the West Midlands, but also adverse weather, with increasingly heavy snowfall as the second half progressed.
Arteta believes his team prospered despite the winter conditions and reveals that his players are approaching the level of performance he expects from them.
“They were dominating in a really convincing way in this difficult climate, I’m very happy,” added the Spaniard.
“It’s three in a row in the last week. We talked about the importance of this week for us and to be able to win all three is really important.
“There were times when I think we were very good, both on defense and offense.
“We had moments where it’s exactly what I want, exactly what we’re trying to do.
“At other times we became a bit careless and we thought that the game was won, which is something we have to improve.
“In general, it is close to what we want.”
