Mikel Arteta said his players 'loved the mission' of winning at Liverpool for the first time in 14 years as he hailed Sunday's 'historic' 1-0 victory at Anfield. Kai Havertz's 16th-minute strike was enough to secure a narrow win in a hard-fought game which sent the Gunners three points clear at the top of the Premier League ahead of Manchester City. Liverpool put Arsenal under huge pressure after falling behind, but the visitors kept them at bay with a more controlled second-half display and the Reds ended without registering a shot on target for the first time ever in a Premier League home game. Arsenal had lost on eight of their last 13 league games and kept just one clean sheet in 27 previous league visits to Anfield before Sunday.
'[They are] just loving the mission,' said Arteta. 'And the mission was something that we didn't accomplish in 14 years. There were reasons for that. Some of them were psychological problems. Some of them were related to the quality that we showed on the pitch, certain moments or decisions.'
Arsenal were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by League Two side Fleetwood Town in midweek, but responded with a defiant display to extend their lead at the top of the table.
Source: ESPN Soccer · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing