Mikel Arteta admitted that he did not know where he was in the ‘madness’ of Arsenal’s celebrations as Reiss Nelson’s 97th-minute winner sealed a dramatic fightback from 2-0 down against Bournemouth to maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
Arsenal had trailed after just 9.11 seconds thanks to Philip Billing, who scored the second-fastest goal in Premier League history to put the relegation-threatened visitors ahead.
Arteta’s side fell further behind in the second half when Marco Senesi powered in for 2-0, but goals from Thomas Partey, Ben White and Nelson turned the game on its head and sparked wild celebrations.
‘It’s crazy, you lose sight of where you are,’ said Arteta. ‘I started to run and didn’t really know where I was running to. I saw a kid here next to me, then I ran into security. But just looking in the faces of everybody, the players and our supporters with those smiles, the joy in their eyes, it’s just great.
‘It was an extraordinary day, a beautiful experience at the end. Very dramatic, but worth living it, because it was a great end.’
‘Everybody was overwhelmed. It was madness from the first 10 seconds of the game, and we had to climb a mountain against 10 players behind the ball. Suddenly we were 2-0 down, and after that it’s don’t lose the shape, don’t lose the discipline, do the simple things right, score the first goal and we did that.
'We showed a lot of maturity and resilience to do that, and when we’ve done that the atmosphere of the place changed the energy.’
Nelson, on as a substitute with 20 minutes to go, set up White’s equaliser before his left-footed half-volley from the edge of the area completed Arsenal’s first comeback to win from two goals down in 11 years.
It was the end of four months of injury hell for the 23-year-old academy graduate, and Arteta hailed his hero afterwards.
‘When we scored the second goal I thought, “OK, let’s go for it”,’ said Arteta. ‘The subs made a huge impact today and I’m so happy for Reiss after the difficult months that he’s had.
‘I always saw the potential, the talent and the desire for him to do it. He’s on a different level right now, emotionally his experiences helped him and he’s knocking on the door. It’s a good lesson for me and for the coaches that we need him.’
It is the third time this season that Arsenal have scored a winning goal after the 90th minute, and the fourth time since the World Cup break that they have come back to win a match they were trailing.
Arteta admitted that the moment was the best he has experienced at the Emirates Stadium across his five years as a player and three as a manager here.
‘Probably yes, the loudest and the most emotional moment we’ve had together. The journey we’ve been on, and how the supporters and players are together.
‘First we enjoy tonight. Let’s have some fun and then tomorrow we go back to work.
‘Winning four games in a row in the Premier League is very tough. We’ve done three of those in a week and in various ways. Today a lot of things went against us, but the team still find a way to win the game. That’s really positive.’