Post-Chelsea quotes round-up: Arteta, Alonso, Odegaard, Konsa, Havertz, Wright, Keown & more
Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard were on target as Arsenal came from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 and maintain their perfect start to the new season.
The Gunners fell behind early when Morgan Rogers volleyed home from the edge of the box, but Mikel Arteta’s side quickly regained their composure and produced a dominant display worthy of all three points.
Havertz beat Emi Martinez at his near post to equalise in the 25th minute, then produced a clever dummy to release Odegaard, who rifled home the winner five minutes after the break.
Bukayo Saka came close to extending the lead, forcing Martinez into a fingertip save, while Raya denied substitute Estevao with acrobatics of his own.
Here’s what the managers, players, pundits and stattos made of the action…
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Mikel Arteta on the performance…
I was very disappointed with the way that we conceded the first goal, and we talked about it, but it’s as well a credit to them and the finish from Morgan (Rogers). But the way that we reacted and the way that we played – it was a fascinating game. I think from start to finish, it was an absolute joy to watch our team play, compete, the composure, the personality, the threat that we generated, some huge individual performances. And the atmosphere in the stadium as well, it was just something great to witness.
Source: Sky Sports
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Xabi Alonso on his side’s defeat…
It hurts. It hurts because a defeat has to hurt. It has been a very intense game with different moments for everything. We had chances to equalise. In the first half as well a couple of chances. Never happy if you lose. After we scored, there were 15-20 minutes where we had to defend too much and we were struggling a bit to get control. We then had better spells with the ball. Overall, it was a very tight, very intense game. We could do better with the second goal to conceded too early. The guys gave everything, tried everything. It has to hurt.
Source: Sky Sports
Martin Odegaard on Arsenal’s reaction to going down early…
Our mentality is to keep fighting. We have shown that many times. We never want to concede early but the reaction is top. We got our reward in the end and the response was brilliant. We showed our quality with and without the ball and the result reflects that.
Source: Sky Sports
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Ezri Konsa on a thunderous second-half challenge on Morgan Rogers…
It got the crowd going. If you get it wrong it is bad but if you get it right it’s always a good feeling. On another day I think we score three or four.
Source: Sky Sports
Arteta on Konsa taking out Rogers…
A very English tackle; the crowd reacted immediately – you guys love that more than a goal sometimes! It was great, obviously. What Ezri has done – he’s played 11 minutes, he had five or six training sessions and the way he played man-to-man against an opponent like Joao Pedro – I thought he was phenomenal.
Source: Post-game press conference
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Odegaard on Havertz’s role in his goal…
He’s a really smart player; he moves so well and takes a lot of attention from the defenders, and it was a brilliant goal.
Source: Sky Sports
Kai Havertz on Odegaard…
He’s an unbelievable player; we saw that over the last [few] years. This season especially, he is back to his best and I think he’s gonna help us a lot this season.
Source: premierleague.com
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Arteta on Odegaard getting back to their best…
First of all, he feels fit and confidence-wise, it’s the highest I’ve seen him. He has a point to prove from last season as well, from missing so much football. Kai is the same; Bukayo is the same. We missed so many attacking players last season for long, long periods – I’m not sure how many games they played together last season, but probably not many. When you start to feel the chemistry they have between them and what they can produce, it’s great. But for me, he gets to that point because he’s enjoying his football. You have to enjoy what you do, to play with real intent, and that’s what I saw today. He was running forward; he took shots, created so many situations for his teammates – he was great.
Source: Post-game press conference
Konsa on Arsenal’s defensive pride…
Conceding so early isn’t great, and I know we take a lot of pride here in keeping clean sheets, but I thought the reaction was second to none, it was fantastic. It just goes to show the character and the mentality of this team.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Owen Hargreaves on Odegaard’s goal…
I mean it’s just, this is a thing of beauty. This is why sometimes you have a ball player playing as a striker. So he can drop off, get away from the centre-backs, touch, get it out wide, get patient, time his run. Calafiori takes the defender away and then watch this for a dummy! I know Odegaard scores, but Kai done all the work.
Source: premierleague.com
Martin Keown on Odegaard’s influence…
He’s so important. That position he takes up on the right-hand side in the little pocket. His relationship with Saka and Havertz – it’s all coming back together. He got his swagger back at the World Cup with Norway; he ran the show. He came back early for pre-season training, he wanted to be in the building to set the example. He’s stamped his authority on the football club, and he’s doing it in the games.”
Source: premierleague.com
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Jamie Carragher on Arsenal’s solidity at the back…
I think the worrying thing for everybody else already is that Saliba – who is genuinely world-class arguably probably the best centre-back in world football – has not played a minute of football so far this season. And it doesn’t look like anyone can score against them.
Source: Sky Sports
Joe Cole on Chelsea allowing Havertz to join Arsenal…
I think if you’ve got him in your club and you’re watching him every day, week in, week out. Coaches and managers come and go, but the Directors of Football? Look at the amount of money on centre-forwards the club has spent since they him go out the door. It’s just not good enough; I think it’s got to stop happening. It happened with Kevin De Bruyne [leaving]; it happened with Kai Havertz. It never happened at United with Sir Alex Ferguson, or with Arsene Wenger. When did you hear of them letting go of a player who went on to become world class at one of your rivals?
Source: premierleague.com
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Ian Wright on why he always felt Arsenal would win…
I said at the start I was very confident Arsenal were going to win the game. Them scoring in 77 seconds, you are disappointed to see that, but I always felt we were going to get in the game at some stage as they were going to play with their low block and then play on the counter. So it was just about whether we can get the ball out wider and quicker and we did and we really got into them and in the end, because we are the champions, I was very confident we would get back in the game.
Source: Sky Sports
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