Mikel Arteta had to pause his late celebrations on Saturday afternoon to hand a pitch-invading child to a member of security.
The Emirates was sent into raptures by Reiss Nelson's 97th minute strike, which sealed a 3-2 comeback win for Arsenal as they maintained their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League. Players, substitutes and coaches swarmed the field after the winner was fired in.
Arteta was set to get amongst it, but revealed he maintained composure to usher a child over the security staff amidst the wild celebrations in north London. It was yet another crucial moment in the title race with the Gunners developing a knack for coming from behind.
The Gunners boss said: "Crazy. You lose sight of where you are. I started to run, I didn’t know where I was running. Then I saw a kid next to me that I had to give to security. Looking at the faces of the supporters. The smiles and joy in their eyes. It’s just great to live."
He also added: "Probably the loudest and the most emotional moment we have lived together. The journey we have been on together… how the supporters and the team are together, added to that moment we had today. It was really special."
Manchester City had claimed victory in the lunchtime kick-off, seeing off Newcastle, which cut the gap to two points. Bournemouth threatened to upset the script after scoring the second fastest goal in Premier League history before doubling their lead on the hour mark.
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Goals from Thomas Partey and Ben White meant the hosts levelled the contest, before the Cherries faced constant barrages of pressure. The late success means Arsenal have now won four on the bounce after going three games without a win just weeks ago.
Arteta is now confident, as the club eye a first league title in almost two decades, that the confidence will increase within the group with Arsenal finding different ways to win ahead of the business end of the campaign.
"That’s four in a row - winning four games in a row in the Premier League is very difficult," said the Spaniard. "We’ve won three in a week, which is even harder, and we’ve done it in various ways. That should generate more belief. Today, a lot of things went against the team. Our fault for the first one, then the fact we weren’t scoring, the situation with Leo, the set-play they had when they scored. The team still found a way to win the game and that’s really positive."
