Mikel Arteta reveals Arsenal used being kicked off top spot as motivation for win over Brentford

Mikel Arteta revealed Arsenal are determined to prove their title credentials and were fired up at Brentford by losing top spot 24 hours earlier.

Wins for Manchester City and Tottenham saw Arsenal fall to third but they responded emphatically with a convincing win at Brentford to reclaim pole position.

Arteta is now not shying away from talk of Arsenal being among the teams in contention to win the league.

He said: ‘You can ask me every day. Today we are top of the league, I am so happy. ‘Yesterday [Saturday] I was so annoyed because we lost it and we used that to want to get back there and show that we want to be there.

‘That is what we are going to do – push to be the best we can be. That is the aim. The table won’t lie after 38 games normally.’

Arsenal’s humbling at Brentford on the opening day of last season was clearly still fresh in the minds of their players and supporters as they gained their revenge, thanks to goals from William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira on his full Premier League debut.

Defender Gabriel was quickly onto social media after the game to have a dig back at Ivan Toney by echoing his ‘nice kick about with the boys’ tweet following Brentford’s win over a year ago. Arsenal’s fans also taunted England new boy Toney as they watched their side cruise to victory.

Arteta said: ‘A lot of people described last season here as a bad day, an embarrassing day, I looked at it as a good building character day. You want to become a different team, you have to learn from those moments and you have to go through those moments and then days like today happen which everyone is really happy in the dressing room with the way we played. We are enjoying our football and it is another step.’

Thomas Frank, meanwhile, reiterated his commitment to Brentford after being linked with the job at Leicester, where Brendan Rodgers is under growing scrutiny, having also previously mentioned as a potential successor to Graham Potter at Brighton. He said: ‘Very simple answer. I’m here at Brentford, very happy.’

‘I can’t speak for the players, but I’m reading very little, these rumours, I’ve been told to be a little aware of it if you get questions and of course it’s nice to be linked with it because it’s something we have done here and done well. That’s positive.’