Arteta: 'Arsenal is like crossing the mountain in front of a 10-man defense'

"It was crazy from the first seconds," Arteta said after the win at the Emirates. He knows Bournemouth are used to attacking right after serving, but admitted yesterday, this opponent "did it brilliantly, and Arsenal defended so badly".

At the Emirates Stadium on March 4, Arsenal had many difficulties when they were leading by two goals, including one in the 9th second, and there were at least three times when they were denied a controversial penalty when Bournemouth let the ball touch or collision in the penalty area. They also lacked a central striker when Leandro Trossard had problems and made way for Emile Smith-Rowe from the 22nd minute, while Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah were both absent due to injury.

"After being down 0-1, Arsenal was like climbing a mountain, because against a 10-man defense. We tried to score by all means, but couldn't and were 0-2 down because of the set-piece." The Spanish coach continued to talk about Arsenal's difficulties yesterday.

However, the "Gunners" exploded in the last 30 minutes to create an unbelievable comeback. In the 62nd and 70th minutes, respectively, Thomas Partey and Ben White cushioned the close to help the host bring the match to the starting line. The climax was pushed up in the seventh minute of compensation, when Reiss Nelson received the ball outside the penalty area and then stretched his left foot to shoot into the far corner of the visitors' goal, making the score 3-2.

According to Arteta, Arsenal's goal after conceding the second goal is to try to stay in position, be disciplined, do the simple things right and find the equalizer. "We showed a lot of maturity and resilience, and did that. When we equalized, the atmosphere on the Emirates Stadium changed the energy," he continued.

After White equalized the score, Arteta asked the players to go high and play with all their hands. The Spanish coach was happy when Nelson scored the decisive goal to mark his return after two consecutive long breaks due to a thigh injury. When asked if he wanted the English winger to finish at the end of the game, Arteta replied: "I don't know. In training, if I asked Nelson to finish 50 times on a ball like that, I don't know him. scored or not. But Nelson did it at the perfect time for the team and for himself. Nelson totally deserved that explosive moment."

For the first time, Arsenal won back when they were two goals behind in the English Premier League, since the 5-2 victory over Tottenham in February 2012. Between these two matches, the "Gunners" went through a series of 65 matches in a similar situation but could not come upstream to win three points.

In the history of the English Premier League, there have only been two matches where a club scored a goal in the 90th minute after conceding in the first minute. Both belong to Arsenal, with victories over Fulham in August 2007 and Bournemouth yesterday.

"The whole team and each player showed a different spirit of winning, determination and initiative than today," Arteta praised the students. "When the game gets tough, there are times when you lose momentum, motivation and break the game. But Arsenal are not like that. The players want to win, want to win the ball all the time, take risks, take the initiative and keep going. Keep trying until you break the opponent's defense. It's great to see that."

The 40-year-old coach refused to comment on Bournemouth constantly lying on the field and buying time because "every club is trying to do everything to win". Arteta also revealed to have complained to fourth referee Andre Marriner and received an answer that the game would have at least six minutes of injury time. "Today, fortunately we had enough time to win," Arteta relieved.

Victory over Bournemouth helps Arsenal re-establish a five-point gap with Man City - the team beat Newcastle 2-0 in the early match. On March 9, Arteta's teachers and students were guests of Sporting in the round of 1/8 Europa League and then marched to Fulham's yard to play round 27 of the Premier League three days later.