Mikel Arteta proud of team for making ‘big statement’ as Arsenal deliver the goods against West Ham

Mikel Arteta praised his Arsenal side for making “a statement” by beating West Ham to go fourth in the Premier League.

Before the match, all the talk was about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after he had been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy.

The Gunners, however, were not impacted by the off-field issues and they put in a fine performance to win 2-0.

Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring and Emile Smith Rowe sealed the win after Alexandre Lacazette had missed a penalty earlier on.

“It was a big game for us to obviously have the capacity to go above them and move fourth,” said Arteta.

“It was a statement. We had been pretty strong at home so we needed to put a good performance in against a good team and I think we did that.

“[I am] really pleased with the performance, the quality, the energy, the passion and the crowd. We had some really good moments. It was a really difficult team to play against.

“They have a lot of solutions and are a threat in many, many ways. I think we controlled them pretty well, so credit to the boys.”

Arsenal’s young players shone in the win, but Arteta also praised the senior members of his squad for stepping up.

Lacazette, in particular, led from the front as captain and asked if he is embracing being skipper right now, Arteta said: “Absolutely.

“Laca has always been like that in the dressing room. You see the way he acts with the young players, how willing he is to help. It is in his nature, he is not a selfish player.

“He is a player that is happy when he makes the rest better and he is like this in the dressing room.”

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