Mikel Arteta speaking to Sky Sports:
“We work every minute of every day for moments like this to celebrate with our fans. Sport at the top level is about small margins – it could’ve gone the other way. I’m jealous of Declan. The way you feel when you score a winner like that. I’m happy. They are a great team who are really well coached but we generated moments to win the game. We gave them moments, the first goal and the offside goal, you are always on the cliff with the quality they have – that’s a dangerous place to be.
“Rice was outstanding but so was the whole team but he did impose himself and gave his momentum when the team needed it. I’m very happy with his performance.
“We’ve been so dominant in games, against Fulham it was the same story. The team deserves more but it’s about competing. That will to win, what they put in at the end – the eagerness to go and go, and keep believing is beautiful. And the crowd drove that too.
“Maybe today we took the plane or metro – there are different ways to win games. That’s the beauty of football.”
On Kai Havertz: “It’s always important to win before the international break as it’s a long window for managers.
“I said to him yesterday: things are hard at the beginning. When I met my wife, at the beginning it was hard to conquer her. It was hard, I had to try and message her, and go, and go. And at the end when she says ‘yes we can be together’ it’s beautiful.”
SportSpotlight 