Posted: 22:30, 1 May 2022 | Updated: 00:46, 2 May 2022
Mikel Arteta hailed his Arsenal players for the “bad win” at West Ham, saying that they are handling the pressure and want to steal the third in the Premier League from Chelsea. Defender Gabriel’s winner at the London Stadium promoted Arsenal to fourth place in the Premier League, two points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur who beat Leicester earlier in the day. “Great victory,” Arteta said, borrowing the favorite word of West Ham fans. “The team showed a huge character. Do not give up. Keep trying to do the right thing. The way they fought, the way they understood how to manage the game at specific times. It was amazing. Mikel Arteta challenged his team to now aim for third place in the Premier League Arsenal return to the top four after a 2-1 win over West Ham on Sunday “In England you say ‘you win badly’? In my opinion, we won badly. “But I am extremely happy to see a team that has this ability to find a way to win and show the character they have shown.” Asked if this is now a race for the third and not the fourth, Arteta said: “Mathematically, everything is open. “We have to go to Leeds and win again because everyone will put pressure. We have to handle this. “We have a great opportunity.” Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale is also optimistic the Gunners can now take on Chelsea Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale later insisted he did not know Tottenham had beaten Leicester, but also said Arsenal could finish third ahead of Chelsea. It was two set phases that overthrew West Ham and this defeat left it seventh. If David Moyes’s men want to advance to the Champions League, they will need to win the Europa League, in which they are 2-1 behind Eintracht Frankfurt ahead of Thursday’s second leg. “I thought we did a good job with them,” Moyes said. “We kept Arsenal silent. “What we did not do well in was set pieces, in which we are usually very good.”
