Arteta ‘especially’ satisfied with history-making Arsenal statistic after win over ‘flat’ Fulham
Mikel Arteta has acknowledged the latest sign Arsenal have shown of their psychological fortitude after their 3-0 win over Fulham on Sunday.
Arsenal scored three times in the first half, with Leandro Trossard registering assists for goals by Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard. They then successfully navigated the rest of the match to keep a clean sheet.
In the process, they made a piece of English football history. No other Football League side has kept five consecutive clean sheets in London derbies before.
Thanks to the win, they are five points clear of defending champions Manchester City. Each of them has 11 games to go in the Premier League this season.
Arsenal have maintained their momentum by beating Fulham in the fashion they did. For Arteta, their psychological strength was evident again, while he is also pleased to see a range of goalscorers.
Arteta told Sky Sports: “I’m really happy to win and get three points away from home, especially with a clean sheet.
“We had a goal disallowed and psychologically we overcame that.
“It’s great to see the goals distributed through the team. Leandro laid on three assists and could also have scored today too.
“Every time we put the ball in the net it’s great. We practice lots of things and today scored beautiful goals.”
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Silva says Fulham gave Arsenal too much respect
Fulham, for their part, are eighth in the Premier League table at present. This was a blip in their pursuit of a top-half finish.
Despite Arsenal’s superiority on paper, Fulham boss Marco Silva felt the hosts were actually the main architects of the result at Craven Cottage, after giving their opponents too much respect.
Silva told Sky Sports: “It was a tough game for us against a top side.
“We were flat and didn’t show any fire in the game. There was no intensity.
“Lots of things went against us and I don’t need to talk about their quality because it was more about ourselves.
“We can’t give away those chances in the first half.
“The second half was slightly different but it was already too late. We showed too much respect and were flat in the first half.”
Fulham are next in action on Sunday when they face Man Utd in the FA Cup quarter-final. Arsenal, meanwhile, have the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie with Sporting CP to look forward to on Thursday before switching back to their domestic duties.
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