Arsenal land Christmas No 1! Mikel Arteta has ‘belief and confidence’ in Premier League title bid

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."

Arteta on Gyokeres taking the penalty: 'Great decision'

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 struggling physically'

Jamie Redknapp has claimed that Viktor Gyokeres shouldn't be struggling physically at Arsenal to the extent he is following his summer arrival.

Gyokeres scored his fifth Premeir League goal of the season to help the Gunners beat Everton 1-0 and send his side back to the top of the Premier League, but relied on a penalty to find the net as he continued to struggle from open play.

"He [Gyokeres] did okay. He's finding it hard at the moment. That's his fifth goal this season. It shouldn't be the case becuase he's played in the English leagues before, but he's struggling with the physicality considering he's a big guy.

"I've never seen him win a duel. In terms of his finesse and bringing others into the game, it's not good enough. He's finding it tough. He needs a bit of confidence.

"He's never going to be a Bergkamp. He's a battering ram that's going to score goals and make big moments and win you games. He won them the game, but he won it with a penalty. You want to see him winning games with really important goals that are going to make the difference.

"At the moment, he's done okay. I don't think you can say anything more than that."

Analysis: A step in the right direction for under-fire Gyokeres?

Sky Sports' Sam Blitz:

A lot of the pre-match talk surrounded what's next for Viktor Gyokeres, with the Swedish forward not quite at the level amid pressure from Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Merino and Kai Havertz on the way back from injury.

This latest outing against Everton - where he scored a first-half penalty which won the game - had fewer question marks and was more of a step in the right direction.

The goal was a positive but there were other moments too. A lot has been made about his Arsenal team-mates not spotting his runs - but William Saliba played him through for a good chance in the first half.

In the second period, Leandro Trossard released him for a trademark channel run down the left and managed to barge through two Everton defenders. It was much closer to the 'battering ram' forward the Premier League was promised - and his three shots on Merseyside was more than he managed in his previous 180 Premier League minutes for Arsenal.

Arsenal's players recognised the need to give him a goal and the penalty summed that up. It was reminiscent of October 2023, when the Gunners' regular penalty takers gave up a spot kick to get Kai Havertz his first Arsenal goal.

The German ended up with 13 goals that season as Arsenal went within two points of the title. Gyokeres now has five - but crucially it looks like there's a better understanding with his team.

Moyes: We've seen penalties given for that

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."