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Mikel Arteta refused to accept that his team were lucky to beat West Ham.
Well also.
This new Arsenal makes its own luck. This well-trained side of the Gunners inspires that old quote from golf legend Gary Player: “The more I practice, the luckier I get.”
This was the kind of game the Gunners would have lost or even tied last season with Unai Emery. This Arsenal graft. This Arsenal has character. This Arsenal never stops believing.
That’s what marks the FA Cup champions as the top four contenders this season. Unbelievers can scoff all they want. Chelsea and Spurs may have comparable options in the future, but few teams achieve their goals without good defense, and Arteta has fixed Arsenal’s problem.
“I think you have to earn your luck,” he said. “People who are lazy, who don’t work, who don’t put their passion in their work, I don’t think they can get lucky.
Too right. This may have been Arsenal’s worst performance under the Spaniard for some time, but they managed to get past the fundamentals. A basic belief in what your manager wants you to do.
They are not perfect yet. Far from there. But if winning as ugly as they did here leads to a League Cup (they will play Leicester on Wednesday) another FA Cup, the Europa League or even the top four, few Arsenal fans will care.
Arteta, of course, won’t be drawn in if his Gunners are in the mix for any of those hits.
Instead, he paid tribute to Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah with the pair stepping up to the plate on a rare occasion when star man Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang was unable to find the record.
Have Arsenal learned to “win the hard way” with Arteta? Give us your opinion here.
(Image: Getty Images)
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Even if referee Michael Oliver, or VAR, had penalized Gabriel Magalhaes for handball, as Victor Lindelof had been at Manchester United hours earlier, you would have backed Arsenal to find the goals to reach the top.
“We need to share the goals much better,” Arteta continued. “We need to produce as a team if we are going to fight with the best teams in this country.
“If it’s a player, then they won’t make it. Everyone has to take responsibility. “
Prior to this hard-fought victory, Arsenal had been beaten in their first Premier League home game in five of the last nine seasons. One of those losses was against West Ham in 2015.
For much of this game, it seemed like the Gunners stars had celebrated too much after Aubameyang’s decision to finally commit his future to the club.
Michael Antonio tied at the edge of the break and West Ham was unlucky enough not to take all three when Tomas Soucek hit the crossbar in the second half.
However, after the victory, Arteta paid tribute to Aubameyang and revealed that Arsenal are trying to make sure that they are never in the position they were placed in again by allowing their star striker contract to run out at just 12 months. for the end.
“We will try to put – we already have it – a plan to avoid this circumstance,” said Arteta.
“The reality is that two or three parties have to agree on something at the same time and that is sometimes not possible for different reasons. But as much as you can, you want to avoid these situations. “
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