Viktor Gyökeres believes Arsenal’s statement derby win against Tottenham was the “perfect response” to silence the club’s critics.
Gyökeres and Eberechi Eze both scored twice to secure a 4-1 triumph over Spurs just four days after Arsenal were rocked by a 2-2 draw at Wolves.
The dropped points at Molineux led to questions about Arsenal’s title mentality. However, their performance against Tottenham — which took them five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League — went some way to silencing the doubters.
And Gyökeres, who extended his league tally to the season for 10, said: “It’s always going to be difficult when you get a result like we had at Wolves, but it’s how you handle that, and how you respond to it, and today we showed that it in a good way.
“To get this result and this performance, it was the perfect way to respond. So, it’s a good sign. The thing is, that we have to keep showing it in the next game and the game after that. There’s a lot of games to go. But if we perform like this, it’s going to be good, for sure.”
Mikel Arteta’s title-chasing squad staged a meeting after they surrendered a two-goal lead against bottom-of-the-table Wolves.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s north London derby, Declan Rice said the players spoke to each other in a “firm” way.
And reflecting on the summit, Gyökeres continued: “It’s important sometimes just to say what you feel and to let it all out in the group.
“Most of us spoke. Everyone can recognise how different people feel in the moment and you get a better understanding of the feeling.
“When you speak in the group openly like that, you come closer together and it’s very important to do that sometimes.
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“If you’re not honest, I think it’s hard to improve. It was a good chat, we certainly enjoyed today, and now we’re going to prepare for a big game against Chelsea next weekend.”
Having avoided the Champions League playoffs, Arsenal will not have a midweek game for the first time in more than two months.
Arsenal’s title rivals Manchester City are also not back in action until next weekend — when they face Leeds at Elland Road on Saturday evening — and Pep Guardiola said he will allow his players to enjoy some cocktails in the coming days.
But, in response to Guardiola’s plans, Arteta said with a smile: “Cocktails? I don’t drink cocktails. So, no, we will do our own thing.”
