Mikel Arteta felt Arsenal responded well to their defeat to Leicester with a comfortable 3-0 win over Dundalk but reminded his players not to rest on their laurels and immediately set his sights on victory at Manchester United this weekend.
Eddie Nketiah and an impressive Joe Willock gave Arsenal a two-goal advantage just before the break in Thursday night’s one-sided Europa League match and Nicolas Pepe put the hosts out of sight with a stunning strike just moments into the second half.
The Gunners were in cruise control from that point on and the result ensured their 100 per cent record in this year’s competition remained intact.
Speaking to BT Sport shortly after the final whistle, Arsenal head coach Arteta said: ‘I think we made it look easy because we were very disciplined.
‘We took it seriously and we were at it right from the beginning because the dangers when you aren’t 100 per cent any team can cause you problems.
‘We made a lot of changes, gave opportunities to other players. They deserved that and played well.’
Willock is yet to make an appearance in the Premier League this term but seized his opportunity with a man-of-the-match display at the Emirates and Arteta admitted Arsenal’s fringe players were making his life ‘difficult’ with regards to selection.
‘We have a large squad and I wanted to give opportunities to everybody,’ the Spaniard added.
‘There were players that have been really patient and training well and today they showed they are well prepared when we need them.
‘Today they made things more difficult for me for selection.
‘Sometimes when they don’t play it’s not something that they can do more., it’s because we have to choose players and sometimes we go for something else.
‘Sometimes it’s about the quality, sometimes it’s about the tactical plan that we have for the game but I’m very pleased for the performance and how they reacted today.’
‘After losing the way we lost against Leicester, it was painful at home and took us a few days to digest that defeat,’ he continued.
‘But you have to react straightaway with a win, with this type of attitude and let’s get ready.
‘We go to Old Trafford and we try to win again.’
