Mikel Arteta was impressed by Arsenal’s maturity as Gabriel Magalhaes headed home a 1-0 win at Sp*rs in the north London derby.

The Gunners were missing key players early in the game – notably Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard – but they fought back to win thanks to a disciplined defensive performance that allowed them to keep the home side at bay for much of the game.

Even though the victory was anything but pretty – Arsenal were unusually sloppy in possession throughout the game – there was no doubt about the performance of the players, who watched each other’s backs right up to the last man.

“The resilience we have shown,” Arteta replied, as Sky Sports asked what impressed him most.

“We knew it was going to be a really tough game, it’s always like that here, they’re a really great team, they create an incredible atmosphere. We had some great moments, especially in the first half, open spaces that we could have exploited a lot more than we actually did. We know we’re a big threat from set pieces and we believed we could help them and that’s what we did.

“We were not the best with the ball today, we did a lot of simple things wrong that didn’t allow us to have continuity. It’s true that against them you can only play very few passes before attacking them because they jump on every single ball and put pressure on it and make it very difficult. But our defense was first class.”

He added: “It was incredible, it’s a real compliment to the team because every player in every area of ​​the pitch is willing to do what many people call the ugly things and they still enjoy that part of the game. When you do that you become a very complete team that can win in any situation. The situation today was very favorable for us in some moments and very difficult in others and we did it.”

“I’m happy because the team has to overcome many hurdles during the season. The last few days have been difficult, we’ve lost many important players, but I have complete confidence in the players who have been there and waited for their chance. They have trained properly and behaved properly, and when they have to compete, this is the result.”

Asked if patience and discipline were key, he replied: “Yes, it’s because we want to play a different game, especially without the ball, in many areas of the pitch. But they have built a structure that is extremely difficult to break through. And if you do that, especially with certain players that we had in midfield today, we would be very vulnerable. We decided not to do that and the boys did exceptionally well.”

Commenting on his reaction to Gabriel’s header into the net, which included a big hug for Seti coach Nicolas Jover, he said: “It was luck, that’s why we are here, to score goals and win football matches.”

“We’re working on heading the ball. We’ve managed to get the right pass and the right header.”