Mikel Arteta praised his Arsenal team after a dominant display in a 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion ended a poor run against the Seagulls and returned his team to the top of the league.
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Second-half goals from Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz gave Arsenal a first victory in four home matches against Brighton and eased nerves at Emirates Stadium after a number of first-half chances had gone begging.
“Big compliment to the team and to the players,” Arteta said. “I think we had an incredible performance against a top team.
"We fully deserved to win the game. I have to praise them because I know how difficult it is and what Brighton do to teams. We didn’t allow that to happen, so I’m super happy.”
Arteta believes that stronger character from his team this season made the difference from the 3-0 defeat in the corresponding fixture last season.
“I think we had a really good first half last season as well," he said. “We should have scored one or two goals but we didn’t. That was my concern today at half-time as well. But [last season] when we conceded the first goal, the team went down because we didn’t have that belief.
“Today we showed a real determination to beat them from the beginning until the end - and we have managed to do it.”
Arsenal have a chance to extend their lead at the top when they visit second-placed Liverpool on Saturday, who sit a point behind the Gunners after they drew 0-0 with Manchester United.
