Arteta hails players’ mentality

ARSENAL manager Mikel Arteta praised his players’ mentality after an impressive response to their lastgasp defeat at Porto as they blew away Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Gunners scored twice in each half of their 4-1 home victory to record a sixth straight league win, a run in which they have racked up an aggregate scoreline of 25-3.

Saturday’s performance kept the pressure on the Premier League’s top two Liverpool and Manchester City.

“I think we had a great performance, big credit to the boys after two days and just half a day to prepare the game,” Arteta told reporters.

“The way we executed everything, the intensity, the commitment, the determination, the aggression, and progression in everything that we were doing with the ball.

“They played with a lot of courage and we got rewarded.”

The Arsenal manager was particularly pleased with his side’s reaction.

“We showed how much we want it . . . I could sense it from the moment we were in Porto that we were ready for the game,” he said.

“In sports, things happen for a reason, you have to learn from that. We have to understand why that happened and be better.”

Arteta, however, was still keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

“We could have scored many more today,” he said. “We have to continue to do that, keep developing, all the things that we can still do better.”

Fulham puncture Man Utd Manchester United’s air of optimism was punctured as Alex Iwobi’s 97th-minute winner handed Fulham their first win at Old Trafford since 2003, while Manchester City edged past Bournemouth 1-0 to close the gap on leaders Liverpool to one point.

The completion of Jim Ratcliffe’s minority stake in United this week and a spell of good form had brought hope of a fresh start for the Red Devils.

United had won their previous four Premier League games to rekindle hope of qualifying for next season’s Champions League, but a 2-1 defeat leaves them eight points adrift of Villa. Ratcliffe revealed his ambition to topple Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the English game within three years.

But the work that lies ahead of the British billionaire on and off the field was exposed as Fulham dominated a ragged United for long spells.

Fulham finally took one of their chances midway through the second half when Calvin Bassey lashed home his first goal for the Cottagers from a corner.

United looked to have snatched a point against the run of play late on when Harry Maguire tapped in after Bernd Leno spilled Bruno Fernandes’ effort.

But there was another twist in the tale as Fulham secured their first away win since the opening day of the season.

Adama Traore left Maguire trailing in his wake before teeing up Iwobi to curl inside Andre Onana’s near post.

“The players deserved it, clearly the best team won the game,” said Fulham boss Marco Silva.

FODEN SAVES CITY

City were again far from their flowing best but, just like in a 1-0 victory over Brentford in midweek, did enough to keep their title challenge on track.

The in-form Phil Foden scored the only goal at the Vitality Stadium as the England international stroked into an empty net for his 16th goal of the season after Neto parried Erling Haaland’s initial effort. At the other end, Ederson was required to save City from dropping two costly points when he kept out Dominic Solanke’s header on the line by the finest of margins.

And former City forward Enes Unal was inches away from an equaliser when his header shaved the post in stoppage time. — SuperSport