Mikel Arteta on huge win over Aston Villa and Declan Rice’s injury | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta hailed the ruthlessness of his Arsenal side after they thrashed Aston Villa 4-1 at the Emirates Stadium.

Goals from Gabriel, Martin Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus ensured the Gunners took revenge on Villa following their away defeat earlier this month.

The victory also sees Arteta’s side widen the gap with their latest opponents to six points in the league.

“To continue to win, you have to win in different contexts,” Arteta reflected after the game.

“Some games we’ve been very good and the margin should have been much bigger and we didn’t manage to do that.

“Today maybe the margin wasn’t that big but we made it that because we were extremely efficient and ruthless in the opposition box.

“We won with a lot of injuries. Today, we lost Declan, Riccy. Gabriel Jesus comes back after such a long time without scoring a goal and scores a wonderful goal.

“Everybody is ready to contribute and that’s great.”

Declan Rice missed the game with a knee injury but Arteta is hopeful it will not keep him out for long.

“That swelling has to come right down for him to have the chance to function,” he explained. “He wasn’t available to do that today yet. He’s improving but let’s see where he is in the next couple of days.”