Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was pleased after his side romped to a convincing 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.

Goals from Gabi Martinelli, Bukayo Saka (2) and Granit Xhaka ensured the Gunners eased eight points clear of second place Manchester City, with only Jeffrey Schlupp's 63rd minute strike for consolation for the south Londoners. 

Read on for a full transcript from Arteta's post-match press conference at the Emirates...

on the performance…

I’m really happy, very pleased with the way we started the game. I was really happy with the way they reacted after Thursday, and we took any question mark away from it. We showed a lot of determination, a lot of purpose in our way of playing. I’m really happy to perform the way we did after playing 120 minutes, after losing two big players for us and to still compete and win the game how we did.

on whether Saka is the best player in the league right now…

I think the team did really well and we obviously have individuals that excel to be at the level that we want, but he was really, really good today again, affecting the result with his contribution, especially in the opponent’s box, so I’m really happy.

on whether Tomiyasu will play again this season…

We don’t know, obviously the doctor is assessing him. We’ve had one assessment , they need to have another assessment tomorrow, but it’s not looking good, that’s for sure. Looking at Tomi, he’s not someone who exaggerates things. He was really concerned straight away, and we are concerned.

on whether he is hopeful over William Saliba and how well Rob Holding did…

We hope so, and we hope Willy is going to be better news but again we have to wait until tomorrow to understand a better picture. We have lost players – we lost Gabby for four months, we lost Thomas for one and a half months, we lost Alex Zinchenko for one and a half months, we lost Elneny for six to eight months, now we lost Eddie and now we lost Tomiyasu and Saliba. Everybody has to give more. It’s not a secret, if we want to maintain that level, everyone has to step in, give more and Rob is a great example of what we needed today.

on how he improves goals being conceded from a set piece…

By training more, by being conscious of it and don’t give any hope to the opponent that it’s a weakness. We have tried to train it, but obviously we didn’t have a lot of time with the amount of games we have played in the last three weeks but it’s something that for sure we definitely need to do better.

on how the team rallied round Martinelli after his penalty miss…

They were a team straight away. But it’s part of football, he takes responsibility, chances and when you see him running around the next day with that energy, honestly I wasn’t very concerned about him.

on Granit Xhaka’s goalscoring this season…

Believing again, believing to get in the right position and believing that the ball is going to land in the right moment and then being clinical. I had a feeling today and I told him that you’re going to score again because when you have that mindset and you are there and I see the way he’s training, good things are going to happen and he’s been phenomenal all season.

on how he guides Martinelli and Saka to get the best out of them…

Just by making sure that every single day they do the right things. They eat the right things, they live the right way and everything that they put into this brain is the right information and they don’t get confused because it’s about tomorrow, it’s about the next day and it’s about the next match. This is what we have to do and to be fair, they have the right environment, the right family and the right agent and it’s not a coincidence that they behave consistently in the way that they do because that’s why they can perform at the level that they do.

on what his message will be when the players return from the international break…

That they really look after themselves in this period. I will try to look after the players that have to remain with us here and that they come back with the same mindset that they have before so that we can go into Leeds which is the only important game we have right now and try to win that one.

on whether he has any concerns about players getting injured over the international break…

I want to think positively. They’re going to play games and they have to do it in the way that they do it here or better, especially when they’re representing their country. We are in contact with all of them, they know how to look after them and we hope that everything is going to work out.