Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed his team talk before their game against Manchester United yesterday to BBC Sport.
Arteta wanted to give his Arsenal team the belief that they could win against United, despite their poor record when away against the ‘big six’ recently.
And his words obviously worked, as Arsenal produced an excellent performance.
The Gunners were the better side throughout as they claimed a 1-0 victory.
And Arteta said: “I wanted to generate belief and I asked them to be who we are as a team right now.
“I’m delighted because we played with a lot of courage and big personality.
“They played a really tricky formation with four midfielders and two that constantly strain your back four. We could have scored twice in the first half and when we scored the goal we had to manage those moments. There was high stress, it is different to any other ground.”
Arteta really masterminded Arsenal’s victory over United, as his tactical approach paid dividends.
Arsenal countered United’s diamond formation and even after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side switched systems at half-time the Gunners were rarely troubled defensively.
Arsenal could actually have won by a greater margin had the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Bukayo Saka and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang been more clinical with chances presented to them.
Arsenal are now in ninth place in the Premier League table, and sit just one point back from the top four.
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