Mikel Arteta said the way Eddie Nketiah trained made him impossible to leave out against Nottingham Forest as the striker repaid the faith by opening the scoring on his recall.
The 24-year-old had not scored a competitive goal in over 10 hours before breaking the deadlock as the Gunners began their quest for the Premier League title with a narrow 2-1 win.
After a 30-minute delay to kick-off following an issue at the turnstiles, Nketiah struck just after the midway point of the first-half, his deflected strike coming on the back of a fine piece of skill from Gabriel Martinelli.
Bukayo Saka’s fine curling effort proved enough to secure the points, even though Forest rallied and pulled a late goal back through substitute Taiwo Awoniyi.
“I’m delighted for him because he is a role model,” Arteta said of Nketiah, who was back in the starting XI having missed out on a berth against Manchester City in the Community Shield win last week.
“He was a player who was so disappointed not to play the final in the absence of Gabi (Jesus).
“What he did was he came on the field in the final and changed the game. That’s number one. The second one was the way he was training this week was saying ‘gaffer, if you’re not playing me you are blind’.
“A lot of players come and say ‘oh why am I not playing’ and you have to try to explain, other players come and say ‘these are the reasons why I deserve to play’. This is exactly what Eddie does.
“This is exactly what he did and then he got on the pitch and he performs that way. He’s a clear and very good example to everybody.”
Defeat at Forest in May saw Arsenal’s title charge come to an end last season and, despite starting the new campaign with a win, Arteta conceded he was concerned by the fall in performance levels.
“For sure,” he replied when asked if he was worried by the drop-off.
“It’s going to be very difficult to dominate games for 100 minutes. But we allowed them to get some grip of the game because they didn’t create anything but on that action the game changes.
“Momentum shifts immediately after that goal. That’s not the moment to change it, you cannot change it, now you have to be so good at dealing with that situation, running the clock down and earning the points.
“The team has done that really well but we’re going to have to be more ruthless and more critical of ourselves to be more pushy and kill the game.”
Forest boss Steve Cooper was left ruing the defending for Arsenal’s goals after setting up the visitors to create the sort of chances that led to their late consolation.
“I was disappointed with elements of our game in the first half,” he said.
“Structurally we were good but I didn’t like us on the goals – we should have defended those much better.
“I didn’t love that we didn’t back ourselves in the duels. I showed some clips to the lads at half time – we needed to believe, back ourselves and compete.
“The real chance in the first half was Brennan Johnson’s from open play. The plan was going to plan with our counter-attacks but we needed to compete more. So it is a game of ‘what might have been’.”
Lopetegui agrees to succeed Moyes as West Ham manager – reports
Julen Lopetegui has reportedly agreed to succeed David Moyes as West Ham manager, with the Scot set to leave the London Stadium when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Despite overseeing three successive European campaigns and delivering the Europa Conference League trophy last season, Moyes has continued to face fierce pressure from sections of the West Ham fanbase.
He claimed to have been offered a new contract earlier this season but said he would hold off on making a final decision regarding his future until the end of the campaign.
West Ham sit ninth in the Premier League table after being thrashed 5-0 by Chelsea on Sunday, with their hopes of European qualification all but over following a drop-off since the turn of the year.
Several coaches have been suggested as contenders to replace Moyes, with Sporting CP's Ruben Amorim apologising to his current club after holding talks with the Hammers hierarchy in London last month.
On Monday, however, widespread reports claimed West Ham had reached an agreement in principle with Lopetegui, who left his last job with Wolves on the eve of the Premier League season.
Lopetegui saved Wolves from relegation last term but left the club just three days before the start of 2023-24, having grown frustrated with a lack of transfer activity at Molineux.
He previously led Sevilla to three straight fourth-placed finishes in LaLiga between 2019 and 2022, also overseeing their 3-2 victory over Inter in the 2019-20 Europa League final.
Lopetegui – who has also managed Porto, Spain and Real Madrid – had also been linked with Bayern Munich and Milan, though fan protests derailed his chances of taking charge of the Rossoneri.
Emery has no complaints after tired Aston Villa lose late on at Brighton
Unai Emery accepts Aston Villa can have no complaints over their 1-0 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League.
The Villans fell to a narrow defeat at the Amex Stadium on Sunday as Joao Pedro converted late on after his initial penalty attempt was saved.
Villa looked sluggish throughout yet were just minutes away from claiming a point that would have further boosted their top-four prospects.
John McGinn also had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside, but Emery admits his side were not deserving of a point on their travels.
"We competed but it was not enough," he told BBC Sport. "We weren't strong enough in 90 minutes to deserve anything more than we achieved.
"Now the most important thing is to rest, to rest today, rest tomorrow, after the match.
"We are having an amazing season, brilliant, but of course we are at the last chance and we have to try and give everything."
Villa remain seven points clear of fifth-place Tottenham, albeit having played a game more, after Spurs' 4-2 loss at Liverpool.
Before focus can turn to the Villans' home match with Liverpool in a week's time, they first travel to Olympiacos for their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg.
Emery's men have a major task on their hands if they are to reach the final as they trail 4-2 from last week's first leg at Villa Park.
"We want to put in a good effort on Thursday [against Olympiakos] and on Monday against Liverpool. Now is time to rest," Emery added.
"We had a lot of players injured and they are recovering. The most important thing is to get players back for balance and to be competitive."
Victory for Brighton was much needed after going six without a win in the Premier League, failing to score in four of those matches.
While Roberto De Zerbi was pleased to get back to winning ways, he accepts Brighton were given a helping hand by Villa's quick turnaround in games.
"To be honest, Villa were not themselves, maybe a little tired," he said. "They are playing in the Europa Conference League and they have a lot of injuries.
"I am proud because we played a great game against one of the best teams in the Premier League. Playing against Unai Emery's teams is very tough.
"We played well, we deserved to win and we could have scored more goals. I think Robin Olsen was the best player for Villa."
Declan Rice loss to blame for heavy West Ham defeats - David Moyes
Declan Rice's absence is to blame for a number of heavy West Ham defeats this season, according to manager David Moyes.
West Ham sold captain and influential midfielder Rice to Arsenal last July for a club-record fee rising to £105million with add-ons.
The Hammers have seen results nosedive since the turn of the year, most recently crashing to a 5-0 defeat away at Chelsea on Sunday.
That was the sixth time West Ham have conceded four or more goals away from home this season, and their fifth loss in six away games overall.
Asked at his post-match press conference exactly why his side are on the end of heavy losses so frequently of late, Moyes said: "Declan Rice."
The Scotsman, due to be out of contract next month, added: "You get the best midfield player in the country, protecting, making sure the moments and times you limit maybe 50 per cent of the attacks.
"It makes you a much better defensive team when you get that. We've lacked protection in front of the back four; we've lacked good enough defending; we've not been good enough on those things in many games.
"You've got to be careful. You're talking about a team sitting in a really, really strong position. We've had a couple of bad days away from home, which we have to try and eradicate and make better.
"I'm trying to put a bit of mental toughness when we need it. The teams I normally prepare would normally have it. You could always lose the way you lose."
West Ham have won just one of their past nine Premier League games, seeing them slip down to ninth place and now out of the top-six running.
United have also failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their past 16 in the competition - only the second time they have done so in a single Premier League season.
The poor run of form, which also includes elimination from the Europa League at the hands of a strong Bayer Leverkusen side, has raised doubts over Moyes' future at London Stadium.
Amid suggestions that former Real Madrid and Spain boss Julen Lopetegui has already been lined up, Moyes reiterated he will wait until after the season to hold talks over his future.
"I'm going to talk to the board at the end of the season, so we’ll do that then," he said.
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