Mikel Arteta says arsenal motivated by 'revenge' in big win over Newcastle
Martin Odegaard's 14th-minute strike and Fabian Schar's 75th-minute own goal were enough to give the visitors a priceless win that cuts Manchester City's lead at the top to one point, albeit having played a game more.
Mikel Arteta said Arsenal were motivated by revenge in Sunday's 2-0 win over Newcastle United after watching a video of last season's painful defeat in the same
Newcastle beat Arsenal 2-0 last May on a hugely damaging night that essentially cost them Champions League qualification, the aftermath of which was caught on camera by Amazon's "All or Nothing" documentary of the Gunners' season.
The players held a team meeting earlier on Sunday, during which they watched footage of the match again and Arteta believes this proved the catalyst for their much-improved display on Tyneside.
"We had to feel it," he said. "It wasn't enough just to talk about it, we had to feel it, we had to see it, we had to recognise our faces. Not just the players but what it meant for the staff as well. That's football. You can win or lose but that feeling that we didn't do enough on the day, we had to put it right.
"I was looking at the video so I didn't see their faces. You don't have to be genius to see it. The word was 'pain' and then the desire for revenge. I think they had that today in their bellies.
"When you have question marks you have to resolve them straight away. When you have the emotions we had last year in that dressing room, you have to feel them again, realise how nasty they are and then find a way to approach the game differently because demands were going to be different from last year.
"The boys did that extremely well so I'm really proud of them."
Arsenal showed no sign of raising the white flag in the Premier League title race with a 2-0 victory at Newcastle United on Sunday to close the gap on leaders Manchester City to one point.
Defeat would have left Arsenal's hopes of a first title since 2004 hanging by a thread, but Martin Odegaard's brilliant strike and a Fabian Schar own goal sealed a vital victory.
Newcastle, bidding to cement a third-place finish in the league, dominated early on, but Odegaard's sweet strike after 14 minutes gave the visitors the lead
Schar then inadvertently turned in Gabriel Martinelli's cross with 20 minutes remaining.
City, who have won 10 straight games to overhaul Arsenal, have 82 points with four games left to the season, while the Gunners have 81 points with three games left. Meanwhile, Newcastle remain in third with 65 points and four games left.
Arsenal will need to keep winning their remaining games and hope that City slip up along the way Arsenal have won their last two games against Chelsea and Newcastle, with Martin Γdegaard scoring in both matches
They have shown a lot of desire and belief to keep their title hopes alive . However, they still face a tough challenge to catch up with City, who have been dominant this season.
Arsenal will also have to fend off the competition from Newcastle, Manchester United and Liverpool, who are all close behind them in the table. Arsenal will need to keep winning their remaining games and hope that City slip up.
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