Mikel Arteta claimed his first win as Arsenal manager against Manchester United on Wednesday night.
The Gunners produced arguably their best 45 minutes of football against United and raced into a deserved 2-0 lead at half time against the Red Devils.
Nicolas Pepe put the Gunners ahead after just eight minutes before Sokratis Papastathopoulos doubled his side’s three minutes before the interval, firing home from close range.
Arteta’s side then went on to produce a professional performance in the second half, to claim all three points and move up to 10th in the Premier League table.
One of Arsenal’s star performers at the Emirates was Mesut Ozil, and following the full-time whistle, Arteta headed straight to the playmaker to congratulate him on his performance.
He was picked up by microphones telling Ozil: "Well done. Well played!” before going on to hug Reiss Nelson, a second half substitute, as well as Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Granit Xhaka and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
“I am very pleased with the performance and even more with the result," the Spaniard said in his post-match press conference.
“I said to the players what you transmit to the fans is up to you. Thank you so much to the fans because of the energy they brought.”
Despite often being branded “lazy” and “disinterested” - Ozil regained possession 10 times in the game, more than any other Arsenal player did, and also covered the most ground of any Arsenal player (11.53km) against United.
