Arteta – “Our supporters are just incredible” | News
Mikel Arteta was all smiles after enjoying a thoroughly impressive 3-0 win away to Preston in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
The boss handed two more debuts, to teenagers Tommy Setford and Ayden Heaven, on a night when 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri also shone.
But the boss was quick to praise the travelling army of Arsenal supporters, who were in full voice throughout the night – especially enjoying Nwaneri’s world-class strike.
“What a special goal for them [the supporters] because we had 6,000 people here,” the boss said afterwards. “It’s just incredible. Their commitment, their passion to come and support the team, it really made a difference so thank you so much to them.
"It’s very positive,” he added. “Winning, into the quarter-finals, we had some really good moments, some fantastic goals, a really good mixture between senior players and very young players, some of them having their professional debut with us so overall, a really good night.”
The match was lit up by some fantastic goals, with Gabriel Jesus, Nwaneri and Kai Havertz all on target.
“I’m very happy with all of them,” Arteta said. “For Gabi it was very important because he hadn’t scored for many months so that’s going to be really positive for him. The goal that Ethan scored obviously was phenomenal. He keeps doing it in training, he’s got the ability, his personality, to make decisions in the final third so I’m really happy.”
At the other end, teenage goalkeeper Setford marked his debut with a clean sheet, to seal a perfect evening.
“He was really happy on the pitch and in the dressing room, a very emotional day for him. He’s been with us only for three month, he’s 18 years old, he just played his first professional game for the club and in his career and the same with Ayden [Heaven], two big smiles.”
“They know that making their debut doesn’t mean anything if there’s no consistency following. It’s what they have to show, it’s the same with Myles [Lewis-Skelly], the same with Ethan and we have a few more as well.”
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