Arsenal boss Arteta: I believe in my players 

Arsenal started 2025 by picking up a vital victory at Brentford to move back into second spot 

Goals from Jesus, Mikel Merino and Gabi Martinelli canceled out an early opener by Bryan Mbeumo to post an excellent 3-1 win over Thomas Frank's Bees in West London on the first day of 2025. 

Read on to find out what boss Mikel Arteta said after the match

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, speaking to TNT Sports: "We won in a difficult stadium, against a good opponent.

"The record they have here is incredible and when you go 1-0 down it makes it even harder.

"We have to navigate through some difficult moments.

"We started really fast and aggressive and again adapting. We had some injuries and sickness and we had to play some different players."

On Gabriel Jesus' form and different goalscorers: "Very important. Today Martinelli scored and Mikel scored from a set-piece.

"In the last calendar year you see who has scored for us and that's our strength.

On Ethan Nwaneri: "Really good. In training he gave us all the right reasons. He is an academy player and he needs to play because he deserves it."

On the title race: "We can only do what is on our hands. The rest is nothing to do with us."

On January transfer window: "At the moment it is looking after the players and get the best out of them. At the moment our focus is our players.

"I really like my players and I believe in what we have as there's a lot of quality and commitment."