Goals from Nicolas Pepe and Sokratis were enough to see us run out winners over Manchester United at The Emirates on New Years Day.
Following unfortunate draws (which we should have probably won) with Everton, Bournemouth and that sickening defeat by Chelsea, Arteta found his first win which should fill the squad with confidence, especially given the manner it which it happened.
We struck as early as the 8th minute after in fairness, United had started brightly, with Pepe turning in a deflected cross to put us ahead. Pepe saw another shot cannon off a post, before Sokratis put us 2 up just before half time from a yard out.
Nice Access All Areas video from Arsenal.com here:
Overall, we played well, with Ozil and Pepe both playing out of their skin under Arteta’s new regime, and the creaky defence were rarely troubled as they once again managed to keep a clean sheet.
With Chelsea dropping points at Brighton, we finally got the win Arteta deserved and can now concentrate on finding some form to try and get ourselves back into top four contention.
Despite the annoyingly inconvenient kick off day and time, this game underlined the Arteta effect was in full swing, and with the Emirates rocking, it did feel like the feel-good-factor was well and truly back, having been postponed slightly with ten minutes to go against Chelsea the week before.
Next up for Arteta is another home tie against Leeds in the FA Cup on Monday night where he will be hoping to overcome the Northern outfit to book our place in the fourth round.
