Mikel Arteta has had plenty of enjoyable wins in his time as Arsenal manager - but few can top Sunday’s victory over Tottenham.
At full-time, Arteta did a slow lap of Emirates Stadium with his players and soaked up the applause.
The Arsenal fans did not want to go home and who could blame them after a 4-1 win in which their side was utterly dominant.
A hat-trick for Eberechi Eze made it all the more sweet for supporters, and morale could not be higher going into a week when Arteta’s side take on Bayern Munich and then Chelsea.
“A great day,” said Arteta. “I enjoyed every minute of it, from the preparation, since the moment that the players came back from international duty.
“I think individually the players were exceptional from minute one. They were super dominant in almost every phase of the play. So, yeah, a day to remember.”
After Leandro Trossard opened the scoring, Arsenal simply blew Tottenham away.
The attack clicked and this was only the third time this season that Arteta’s side scored four or more goals in a game.
Unlike on the previous two occasions, though, none of the goals came from set-pieces and this was instead Arsenal at their flowing, incisive best.
Eze was at the heart of it but those around him played their part, too.
Mikel Merino - not for the first time - was excellent as an emergency No9 and, by dropping deep, he created space for Eze to exploit.
Merino created the opening goal for Trossard, and he was another player that caught the eye.
Trossard created Arsenal’s fourth and, on another day, could have been named man of the match.
“It was one of the best games, so aggressive with and without the ball, so effective,” said Arteta. “He could have scored another one or two goals, and he was involved in so many positive actions.”
Much has been made of Arsenal’s huge £250million spend in the summer, but Merino and Trossard’s performances were a reminder of how they can play a vital role.
They have certainly given Arteta a headache going forward, because he is about to welcome back a string of injured attackers.
Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke made the bench on Sunday, but Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Viktor Gyokeres are all due to return soon, too.
Arsenal’s returning cavalry is a scary thought for the rest of the Premier League, but for Arteta it is an intriguing puzzle to solve.
It is, undoubtedly, one he will welcome too, because for so much of last season he was devoid of options.
Now, Arteta is set to have a wealth of talent to pick from and his biggest challenge will be how he manages the minutes.
Eze excelled as a right No8 against Spurs, but that is traditionally the role of Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard.
Trossard has the left-wing spot nailed down right now, but it is the most competitive position in the squad as Eze, Madueke, Martinelli and even Jesus can all play there.
Even Merino would be hard to drop as a No9 right now, albeit that change does feel inevitable when Gyokeres and Havertz are fit.
“We need players back immediately today,” said Arteta. “We’ve got Noni back on the pitch, which is great, but we’re still missing a lot, a lot of important players, and we’re going to need all of them.”
Arteta’s solution to a selection headache will be the congested calendar. Starting with Bayern on Wednesday, the Gunners have 10 games in 35 days before the turn of the year.
There should be plenty of minutes to go round, not least because Arsenal’s luck with injuries has been rotten over the past 18 months.
Arteta’s task will be working out who should play when, starting with Bayern and then at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
This win over Tottenham was Eze’s day, but another match might be a moment for Madueke or Martinelli, or any of Arsenal’s stacked forward line.
Arsenal have strength in numbers that few can rival.
