‘It’s a huge win’ – Mikel Arteta hails Arsenal win over Leicester to lay down gauntlet for Man City

Gabriel Martinelli’s goal within a minute of the second half was enough to secure all three points in a hard-fought contest at the King Power Stadium.

“I think for the amount of time that we dominated the ball, possession and territory, the amount of situations that we created in the final third, we should have created much more and scored more goals,” Arteta told Sky Sports.

“When you don’t, then you have to be exceptional in your defensive work. I think we conceded one chance, one shot off target, only so I think defensively the team was outstanding. Great, because it’s a really difficult place to come here and win. We’ve done it and it’s a huge win.”

“Obviously, we want to start fast [in the second half] and start to get in their toes again. It was a really good moment to give us the advantage.”

Leandro Trossard thought he had broken the deadlock in the first half in an effort which was subsequently disallowed following Ben White’s tussle with Danny Ward.

Arteta refused to be drawn into a debate about whether the goal should have been given, and is now looking forward to the visit of a struggling Everton side to the Emirates on Wednesday.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen the replay,” he added.

“The decision is made, what can we do? It’s a shame because he’s put it in the top bin and it was a great finish but we managed to still recover, not get too upset, and win the game.”

“We think about the next game, the Premier League is so tough, next we have Everton, we suffered already in Liverpool with what they did to us, we’re going to have to prepare really well, play well and be really dominant in the game to earn the right to win.”

The Toffees claimed a memorable 1-0 win over Arsenal in Sean Dyche’s first match in charge on February 4.

Everton subsequently lost two of their next three league matches, as a 1-0 win over Leeds was sandwiched in between 2-0 defeats to Liverpool and Aston Villa respectively.

The Merseysiders head into the contest sitting 18th and one point adrift of safety, and will move out of the bottom three with a victory.