Mikel Arteta was unwilling to go into detail after defenders Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba were spotted in an apparent confrontation following Arsenal 's win at Leicester.
The Gunners ground-out a 1-0 victory on Saturday to keep themselves firmly at the top of the Premier League table, but it later emerged that all was not so rosy between their two imperious centre-backs. Despite registering a first clean sheet in seven games and briefly going five points clear at the summit, Saliba allegedly shoved Gabriel after the pair had been in an animated discussion.
Manager Arteta has now spoken out, insisting that his defenders have a "happy marriage" and that all is well - although he refused to unpack the incident. "They love playing with each other. But they are really demanding of each other, which is good," the Gunners boss added with a smile. "Everything is fine."
Arteta went on to say: "I don't want robots, I want players with feeling, with passion, that they demand [more] from each other and that they have a chemistry, and those two certainly have that chemistry on and off the field. I love that even when winning, they want each other to do better."
It was reported by the Athletic that as Arsenal's players walked off the pitch after full-time, Saliba shoved Gabriel away from him as they exchanged words. But it seems that the confrontation won't bleed over into the Gunners' next match, a crucial clash with Everton on Wednesday which could send them five points clear of title rivals Manchester City for good.
As it's a game in hand while City are in FA Cup action, Arteta and co can strengthen their grip on first place. The Spaniard, however, is wary of slipping up after Arsenal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Sean Dyche 's Toffees in the reverse fixture just over a fortnight ago.
Have your say! Will Arsenal win the Premier League? Let us know your prediction in the comments section.
"It's a case of doing things better than we did when we played them a few weeks ago and earning the right to win the game," Arteta affirmed on Tuesday. "Hopefully tomorrow we will play much better than we did that day. It's like with any opponent. We showed them what they do, what they are about, what we expect to do to try to beat them and nothing different.
"Obviously with Sean it's quite clear what he's done and where the success they've had is coming from. Tomorrow we'll prepare the game in an appropriate and similar way [to the away match]. But with every manager, it's the same.
"We have to look at certain matches, what they do and try to get the right tactics to beat them - and as well the same mentality and expectation of what we demand in the game."
