Mikel Arteta press conference following Arsenal 4-1 Tottenham as he reveals extra Eberechi Eze effort | OneFootball

Arsenal moved six points clear at the top of the Premier League with a superb 4-1 win over north London rivals Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium.

Eberechi Eze hit a hat-trick for the Gunners in this memorable victory, and Mikel Arteta was understandably full of praise for the summer signing from Crystal Palace when he spoke in his press conference after the game.

The Arsenal manager also gave special praise to Leandro Trossard and Mikel Merino as they impressed vs Spurs and helped the team take advantage of Manchester City’s slip-up on Saturday.

See below for every word of Arteta’s post-match press conference…

Mikel Arteta press conference after Arsenal’s win vs Tottenham – full transcript

What a satisfying day. I mean, it was an incredibly impressive victory. I mean, what a story.

Well, a great day. We enjoyed, I enjoyed every minute of it, from the preparation, since the moment that the police came back from international duty I sensed a feeling that they wanted to be together again, that they were ready for a fight, they were ready for a big week, and the preparation was top.

Then you have to deliver it, obviously, with the energy that our people brought to the stadium. It makes a huge difference. I think individually the players were exceptional from the minute one.

They were super dominant in almost every phase of the play. So, yeah, a day to remember. You don’t win a derby 4-1 every time and hopefully we made a lot of Arsenal supporters very proud and happy.

Could you sense that Eze really wanted to kind of almost own this occasion? Because, I mean, this kind of statement performance in those goals…

Things happen for a reason. And after the international duty, he had two days off, and after one day he wanted to train, and he wanted to improve, and he wanted to do extra practice and he was asking me questions about this and that.

And when a player has such a talent, and his desire is at that level, then these things happen. And he fully deserves it. I’m so happy for him, because since the day that he came, he brought something else to the team. So it’s a joy, it’s an aura that this team needed and hopefully it will give him a lot of confidence, to him and the team, that at any moment he can win us a game. And that’s the ability that he has, and he certainly needs to fulfil that talent.

It’s felt like one of Leo’s best performances as well. And with so much noise and talk around him in the summer, and then taking a game like that by the scruff of the neck, it really felt like he took things to a new level.

Yeah, for me, no, because for me it was forbidden for him to leave. No chance. I know the player that he is, and surrounded with the players that we have, he’s a player that is going to make a difference for us. I fully agree. It was one of the best games, so aggressive with and without the ball, so effective, he could have scored another one or two goals, and he was involved in so many positive actions. So that’s what we need. As I said, I think individually the players were excellent today.

Could you just reflect on Eze’s quality of just pulling the trigger? He takes a lot of shots, and maybe was that something you were missing last season, someone who just sort of sees the ball and hits the ball?

Yeah, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. It can be right, left, ball on the ground, bouncing ball at this height, and he takes it.

And he has such a quality and capacity to finish actions in different ways that we need to play him very close to the box, because apart from that, for example, the ball that he put to Declan in the second minute, I think it was, to play him through and create that big chance is exceptional. We need to play him in his qualities. The more he spends time there, the better for the team.

Just looking at Ebz, he’s obviously had an amazing year, won the FA Cup for Palace and has got his dream move. Do you sense in him a sort of desire to keep going and keep achieving stuff and winning things?

Eberechi Eze celebrates scoring for Arsenal in their win vs Tottenham (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Yeah. Well, that’s what he showed from the beginning. And when he picked up the phone, I remember last summer, he said he wanted to play for us, and he wanted to be part of this team.

You can really sense that. And hopefully he can enjoy today, and tomorrow he’s ready for Bayern Munich.

You talked before about the importance of capitalising on the weekends where your rivals lose. I mean, just how important is this result in the context of Liverpool and City?

Yeah, and especially after the Sunderland game, at the end we lost two points in the last kick of the game, basically. And we went to the international break with that bitter feeling because we didn’t concede any goals and we had 10 straight wins. And we wanted to get back to earning that momentum again and the London Derby and today’s performance. It’s a good start.

Six points clear. What does that mean?

In this league? Not much. We are doing really well. We’ve been really consistent and that’s it. I mean, when you look at the results, whether they win or lose, the difference in the scoreline and actually what happens in games is really small.

We know that. We need players back immediately today. We’ve got Noni [Madueke] back on the pitch, which is great, but we’re still missing a lot of important players and we’re going to need all of them.

The good news is, we lost Big Gabi, which is a massive blow, and Piero comes in and I think he was fantastic from the beginning.

When you look at the team and you look at the performances you guys are continuing to put on, what are you most happy about? What do you think is making the difference between you and the rest of the group so far?

Well, I don’t know. From looking at our team, it’s the application, it’s the energy, it’s the desire to be the best version of themselves every single day.

That’s what I sense. Sometimes we are better and sometimes not that good, but the willingness and the desire to win and be there, it’s without a question for me the biggest attribute for this team.

Interesting movement from Mikel Merino on the pitch., How important was his performance today?

Yes, I think it was incredible again. We are asking him to fill in as a nine, and he’s not a nine, and to do a lot of the things that a nine has to do, but he’s such an intelligent player and his work ethic and his desire to contribute and make others better is that big, and those performances give you the right reason to continue to trust him.

Just on Mikel Merino, do you get irritated when he’s described as defensive, given that?

I don’t know… A defensive nine.