Coach Arteta is more confident in the English Premier League race
The last two victories, 4-2 against Aston Villa and 1-0 against Leicester, help Arsenal to reach ten away victories in the Premier League this season, one more victory than the whole of last season. Thanks to that, they took some of the pressure off after winning only one point in three previous matches against Everton, Brentford and Man City.
In the press conference after the win over Leicester, when asked about the last two away wins, Arteta replied: "Very important. It creates more confidence in the players. I completely trust the players. What we can do is go back to some of the basics and details that can help us win away. In the last two games, especially against Leicester, we did those things much better." .
On keeping a clean sheet in this match, the Spanish coach added: "Set-pieces, sloppy goals or personal errors are part of football. Sometimes you'll concede a goal in games, but it's true. The fact is that we kept a clean sheet and didn't let the opposition create many chances in this game. That's really important if you want to maintain the winning streak."
At King Power, Arsenal dominated with 66% possession, scoring ten times with two shots on target. The away team scored the only goal in the 46th minute, when Leandro Trossard dropped the ball for Gabriel Martinelli to penetrate the penalty area and then put his right foot in the far corner to defeat goalkeeper Danny Ward. On the opposite side, Leicester only had one shot on target, which was Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's left foot cut from 25 meters away, which went wide of the post at the end of the second half.
According to Arteta, Arsenal controlled the game, only had about ten minutes of difficulty and did not let Leicester have a dangerous shot. But the 40-year-old coach was not satisfied when his students failed to make the decisive passes to create bigger chances and finish the game.
Arsenal could also have gone away with a stronger victory if it weren't for the two controversial decisions of VAR. In the 26th minute, Trossard shot into the far corner, causing the home keeper to stand still, but was denied by defender Ben White who held a hand of goalkeeper Danny Ward in a dispute in the penalty area. Then, 1.98-meter-tall centre-back Harry Souttar collided with Bukayo Saka in the box, but was not awarded a penalty.
Arteta thought the referee was wrong to deny Trossard's goal, refused to talk about the remaining situation and emphasized that he was happy when Arsenal showed the quality to have two consecutive victories away. The Spanish coach also asked the students to immediately focus and look forward to the match for round 7 of the Premier League against Everton on March 1.
Martinelli's goal is the 200th goal Arsenal have scored in the Premier League since Arteta took office on December 20, 2019. The "Gunners" achieved this record through 120 matches, averaging 1.66 goals per game, and conceding 131 goals. In which, Bukayo Saka scored the most goals with 26. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (25), Alexandre Lacazette (22), Martinelli (19) and Martin Odegaard (16). In total, Arsenal scored 280 goals in all competitions under Arteta.
