Our Club celebrated its 125th birthday before the Everton game and I felt it was important that we played to the level of history at Arsenal.
In the end, we won it with an artistic goal from an artist and I suppose that 1-0 is quite an historical scoreline when you think about it.
However we started from so deep this season that nobody could have predicted that we would be where we are now at the beginning of December. We have to keep going though because, in my opinion, we are still far away.
Maybe the turning point was when Andrey Arshavin scored against Swansea because that was a game we absolutely had to win. Bet on the Premier League results with Best sports betting sites
After that there was the victory against Chelsea – that helped confidence – and we did well in the Champions League too. In the qualifier, we played Udinese who have been top of the Italian League this season and then we finished top of our Group F. We never got credit because when people decide you are a bad team, you are a bad team. We just have to work slowly and let people talk.
For me, we are a bit more mature these days but we still want to improve and be faithful to our style. On Saturday, Everton looked very good in the middle of the park and stopped us from playing. They have very intelligent players so Robin van Persie’s winning goal was vital.
When you are 22 and you do not have the best of games, you rush your moments a little bit. When you are 28, like him, you keep focus and, if you get a chance, get it away.
It is difficult to take a ball over your shoulder like he did. The timing has to be right, you have to lean forward very quickly and your body shape has to be correct. Everybody who has played football understands that is the most technically difficult movement for a striker.
People will say we are ‘Van Persie dependent’. But on Saturday, he got us a goal which came at a moment of the game where we were struggling to create chances. He delivered something special and three important points.
