Arteta praises gritty Gunners
MIKEL ArtEtA hailed his Arsenal players for ‘winning ugly’ at West Ham, saying they’re ready to steal third place in the Premier League from Chelsea. Defender Gabriel’s 54th-minute headed winner at the London Stadium moved Arsenal up to fourth, two points above rivals tottenham, who beat Leicester City earlier in the day. ‘Massive win,’ said Arteta, who had seen centre-back rob Holding, who deputised for Ben White who had picked up a hamstring injury, put his team in front after 38 minutes only for Jarrod Bowen to equalise for the Hammers on the stroke of half-time. Arteta added: ‘the team showed huge character. Not to give up. to continue trying to do the right things. the way they fought, the way they understood how to manage the game in certain moments. It was phenomenal. ‘In England, you say you “win ugly”? From my point of view, we won ugly. ‘But I’m extremely happy to see a team that has this capacity to find a way to win and show the character they showed.’ Asked if this is now a race for third rather than just fourth, Arteta said: ‘Mathematically, everything is open. We’re going to have to go to Leeds and win again because everybody is going to put on pressure. We have to handle that. We have a great opportunity.’ It was two set-pieces that undid West Ham yesterday and this defeat left them seventh in the table after high hopes that they could finish higher this season. If David Moyes’ men are to make it into the Champions League, they will need to win the Europa League but they trail Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 in the semi-final ahead of thursday’s second leg in Germany. ‘I thought we did a good job on them,’ insisted Moyes despite yesterday’s home defeat. ‘We kept Arsenal quiet. What we didn’t do a good job on was set-pieces, which we’re normally very good at.’