Mikel Arteta could not believe it took a comeback for Arsenal to beat Southampton at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Despite creating vastly more chances in the opening 55 minutes of the game, it was Southampton who took the lead in the second half through Cameron Archer.
The Gunners cancelled out the visitor’s opener just moments later through Kai Havertz. Gabriel Martinelli came off the bench to put them ahead before Bukayo Saka sealed all three points late on.
“The start was exceptional, the dominance, the chances. It was unbelievable not to go one, two, three goals up,” Arteta told BBC Sport after the final whistle.
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“We conceded the goal and then it was game on. I thought the team reacted with a lot of authority and I am happy the team can react like this – but not happy after the chances we had that we had to go through that.
“The substitutes changed the energy and also the feel in the crowd. We won in the end and I think we deserved it.
“The way we started was phenomenal but we didn’t get our reward. We had a difficult context at 1-0 but we did it.”
On goal scorer Havertz, the Basque native said: “He’s really hungry, such an intelligent player, he is so focused to achieve what he wants and was exceptional again.
“We lost so many players last international break, [it is a] very difficult schedule but this team finds a way. [It is a] good platform to continue the season.”
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