Arteta says Gabriel recovery points to tougher Arsenal mentality - Silva reflects on Leno and loss

Mikel Arteta says the way Gabriel recovered from the blunder which gifted Fulham their goal typified the sense of purpose currently coursing through his side.

The Gunners fought back from a goal down to beat the Whites 2-1 – with Gabriel himself in the right place to poke home an 85th minute which made it four wins out of four in the Premier League.

“I’m really happy with that performance – with the attitude and mentality of the team," said Arsenal's boss. "It showed we were on top of the game, it was about being patient and the goal would come because we were deserving that.

“We made an error, but even then, the team showed that against adversity, Gab individually, how we continued to play with the unbelievable support we have in the stadium right now makes things much easier.

“You saw the reaction of everybody after the goal, the reaction of the stadium, it gave support to the player, belief and the player has to show courage to continue playing. This is part of football.

Arteta added: “The way Gabby changed his mentality and approaches every single day is different to a year or two ago.

“How he looks at himself every day, what is the most important thing in his life apart from his little daughter and his family and how consistent he is every day – his habits and how much he wants to become one of the best.

“We have more alternatives [as a team] and have matured as well. A lot of it is about belief and confidence that you can do it. Also, top teams, winning teams have that connection with the supporters and it’s something I haven’t seen for a while.

Beaten boss Marco Silva said: “That was a tough result for us. Credit to the players. They deserved more than we took.

“Arsenal had much more possession and more around our box, more shots, for sure, more corners, but I didn’t see many clear chances for them.

“With our defensive organisation, we did really well. We took many positives. Really bad luck the way we conceded the two goals.

“But the commitment and ambition we showed will come [good] for us in the future, I don’t have doubts. We will improve for sure. We are working on both sides of the game, on the ball and without the ball.

“Without the ball you have to show compactness and togetherness and the organisation that we have been showing from the first day.”

Silva added: “We are in a good place. Probably could have more points right now because our performances have deserved more points but we have to keep working in this way. “

He did say that he hoped to get a striker in before deadline. “Again this afternoon, we didn’t have attacking players on our bench and we cannot play at this level with these solutions,” he said.

Bernd Leno was arguably at fault for the winner for not clearing the ball at the near post but was praised for a ‘fantastic performance’ by Silva. The German did make one fine block in the first half.

“He gave everything I expected of him. Quality, class, maturity, experience, everything. And he will give more.”