Mikel Arteta reacts to Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea all losing after Arsenal beat Crystal Palace

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Arteta’s men will look to tighten their grip on top spot when they return to action away to struggling Burnley in a week’s time. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we’ll send you so we can get football news tailored to you. ‘I just told the boys that they will probably value this victory more than any other victory this season because we knew the difficulty of it,’ Arteta’s said of Arsenal’s latest win. ‘We come after playing every three days.

Former Palace star Eze scored the only goal of the game at the Emirates (Picture: Getty) The are riding a seven-game winning streak (Picture: Getty) ‘I knew we were playing against a team that has been one of the best recently in terms of organisation, how difficult they make it, how frustrated they can make you. ‘The moment you lose that concentration, they will punish you for sure. ‘We’ve managed to be more stable, playing the game we have to play. To keep a clean sheet again was very important.’ Manchester City were beaten 1-0 at Villa Park (Picture: Getty) According to Arteta, the fact City, Liverpool and Chelsea all dropped points just underlines the strength of the English top flight this season. ‘It shows how hard this league is,’ the Spaniard said when asked about Arsenal’s rivals losing. ‘The players aren’t allowed their phones so I hope not [that they didn’t know].’ Arteta’s men face Burnley next weekend (Picture: Getty) Despite Arsenal’s encouraging start to the campaign, Arteta believes there is still lots of room for improvement over the coming weeks and months. ‘We are where we are,’ he explained. ‘It’s a credit to us because we have been very consistent knowing the difficulty of every match as well. ‘It is early.

It doesn’t mean anything other than let’s keep doing a lot of things that we’re doing well but there are things to improve.’ Arsenal will be sweating over Saliba’s fitness after his early substitution (Picture: Getty) Arteta was unable to provide any clarity on the nature or severity of Saliba’s injury, which saw the Frenchman replaced by Cristhian Mosquera at the midway point. ‘The first one [injury] was Willy, he had to be out after the first half,’ Arteta responded when asked for an update on Saliba’s fitness at his post-match press conference. ‘I don’t know [the exact nature of the injury], not because I don’t want to tell you! But because I don’t really know. ‘On Willy, there are two things related to his substitution.’ Rice and Calafiori were also replaced in the closing stages, both appearing in some discomfort as they left the field in north London. ‘Declan was also struggling from the first half with a knock that he took,’ Arteta explained. ‘And Ricci [Calafiori] as well, so let’s see how they recover.’ On Rice’s issue, Arteta added: ‘With Declan I don’t really know because it was knock, whether it was a calf or an achilles.’ For more stories like this, check our sport page.