What a difference two weeks can make. After defeat to Brighton, it looked like all Mikel Arteta's fine initial work was being torn apart by individual foolishness, but fast forward from there and an impressive victory away at Wolves has Arsenal on a run of four straight win.
Goals from Bukayo Saka and Alexandre Lacazette secured a 2-0 win, one that eases the strain on the Gunners' current predicament and has them back in contention for a European place this season.
TOGETHER.
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 5, 2020
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Understandably, Arteta was pleased with his side's display, hailing it as 'one of the best' he's overseen since taking the reins in north London back in December. He also touched on the prospect of securing Champions League football, something Arsenal are still in mathematical contention for, but still, admittedly, look unlikely to obtain.
"That is probably one of the best [performances] because of the difficult schedule that we had compared to them in terms of the recovery," he told the club's official website. "And for how well they have been doing for the whole season and because of COVID-19. To come here and win the way we have done today is not an easy thing to do, it's another step forward in our process so I am really happy today.
"I am in the race to try and win against Leicester and then let's see what happens. Two weeks ago it looked impossible and we know the fixtures that we have in the next few weeks... we try to improve as a team every time to give us a better chance, the better we play the better we compete."
Despite an impressive showing from his side, the Spaniard insisted that work needs to be done over the summer to bolster the squad in what will be a 'vital' transfer window for the club as they look to build on the positive groundwork already done during his tenure.
"I know that the situation that we have at the club and the context that we are in, but the club knows my plan," he told Sky Sports. "In January, the situation was that we had to fill some gaps and give some stability to the squad. Now is the moment to make another step forward and improve the squad and the players that we have.
"We have a very strong group [working on signings] and the communication is really clear, not only with [head of football] Raul [Sanllehi], [managing director] Vinai [Venkatsham], [contract negotiator] Huss [Fahmy] and [technical director] Edu, but also with the ownership about where we want to go."
"The margin for error is very, very small. The gap between the two top teams and the rest is really, really big and everybody is trying to catch up. The competition is between six, seven, eight, maybe even nine clubs now to fight for those positions, so we have to be very smart and we have to be very decisive when we make our decisions."
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Source: 90min
