Laura Woods' affection for Mikel Arteta continued to grow after Arsenal's win at Tottenham on Sunday.
The Gunners extended their lead at the top to eight points as their title aspirations gathered more momentum. First-half strikes from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard were enough to see off a Tottenham side whose own top four ambitions were further dented.
Arsenal had not enjoyed much cheer in this fixture over the years, losing 3-0 last term. But their current confidence was clear to see as they won on the white half of north London for the first time in almost a decade - something Arteta was fully aware of.
He was quizzed on Arsenal's last win at Tottenham, way back in 2014, and replied: "Yes I was here". The Spaniard started for the Gunners in the win as Woods said: "Arrghh I love him!"
Woods has, like many Arsenal fans, been forced to watch the club struggle in recent times but is revelling in their resurgence as a first league success since 2004 becomes even more of a possibility. Arteta is thriving after being backed by the club and the TalkSport presenters has hailed the Spanish boss and the side he's created.
She said recently: “I think a lot of people were sleeping on Arsenal in general. I think while that was happening Mikel Arteta was knitting together this amazing plan that he had and I think a lot of credit needs to go to hierarchy for backing Arteta and backing his vision.
“When you look at the players he brought in and you look at the price tag, I said ‘Martin Odegaard for £30million?' I hate myself for questioning that, I hate myself for that. But I love this Arsenal side. I think the vision as well from Arteta to give Odegaard the captaincy as well, they see things we don’t, how this guy operates around the club and I think that was an inspired move to give him the captaincy."
Arsenal's win at Tottenham came 24 hours after Manchester City's derby loss. It means they are just one point ahead of Manchester United with Pep Guardiola appearing to concede defeat at the halfway point of the campaign.
He said after defeat at Old Trafford: "I don't care about the Premier League and the Carabao Cup, we cannot win. We won a lot, so it's not a problem." City still have to play Arsenal twice but have dropped points in six of their 18 league games.
Arsenal's next outing is against United at the Emirates before they take on City for the first time this season in the FA Cup. The two sides will meet in the league next month in what will be a crunch clash.
