Mikel Arteta has ‘belief and confidence’ in Arsenal’s Premier League title bid

By Carl Markham, Press Association

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta insisted being top at Christmas again gave him belief and confidence to finally turn that advantage into success.

For the third time in four previous years – and fifth in the competition’s history – the Gunners lead the Premier League on December 25, but they have yet to convert that into a title win.

The 1-0 victory at Everton courtesy of Viktor Gyokeres’ first-half penalty ensured they reclaimed top spot from Manchester City, who had overtaken them earlier in the day.

“It gives me belief and confidence: the level of performance and the consistency of that,” said Arteta.

“It is very difficult to do in this league so it means the team is consistently there.

“We enjoy the process of winning. We will have to go to difficult places and have difficult moments. We have dealt with a lot of things already and we are there.!

Gyokeres’ first goal in six games was handed to him mainly by Jake O’Brien’s inexplicable handball and then by captain Martin Odegaard choosing him over Bukayo Saka.

Arteta is happy for the players to take responsibility for those on-field decisions.

“Great decision. Very happy for him,” he added.

“They took ownership on the pitch between Martin, Bukayo and him and decided who was the taker and he put the ball in the of the net.

“I love it when players take ownership and make the decision themselves.

“(It showed) the confidence of the player who practises every day and is unbelievable at it.”

Gyokeres’ penalty decided the game, but the hosts had a valid claim for a spot-kick of their own when William Saliba’s attempted clearance saw him kick Thierno Barry in the second half, however, VAR ruled no foul had been committed.

Everton manager David Moyes was diplomatic in his response.

“I’m not sure. I’ve watched it back, I think they said it was insufficient contact,” he said.

“We’ve seen some given if you kick through someone’s foot or Achilles. It’s probably been seen and could have been given, but for the VAR not to send him to the screen they must have felt they it was not enough.”

Moyes was left to rue O’Brien’s moment of madness after the defender threw both arms in the air at a corner.

“Disappointed with the goal we conceded. We gave away a stupid penalty kick,” he added.

“When you think about it we pushed Arsenal close. If they had scored a brilliant goal you could have held your hand up but it wasn’t, it was a poor decision by us.

“Overall I thought we fought incredibly hard to get something out of the game and challenged Arsenal for long periods.

“You couldn’t say the players weren’t committed or determined, they were fantastic in those aspects. Quality-wise you could maybe ask questions.”