In a post-match interview that has got plenty of people talking, Ashley Young has said Arsenal players celebrated Saturday's win over Aston Villa "like they won the league."
A first-half goal from Bukayo Saka sealed what could prove to be a significant three points in the club's ambitions to seal a top four finish this season – and Mikel Arteta's side celebrated wildly after Bernd Leno pulled off a big save to deny Coutinho in the final seconds.
Moments later, the full-time whistle blew and Kieran Tierney, Granit Xhaka and Rob Holding swarmed around Leno. You can see the footage below.
The celebrations didn't stop there, either. As in-form Arsenal extended their lead over fifth place Manchester United to four points with a game in hand, Mikel Arteta and his players stayed after the final-whistle to applaud their supporters.
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Fans even chanted: "We've got Super Mik Arteta, he knows exactly what we need, Kieran at the back, Gabi in attack, Arsenal on the way to Champions League."
It was a song that brought a comment from Arteta in his post-match interview. "If we can make them happy, everything makes sense… personally, it feels great."
Aston Villa midfielder Ashley Young certainly had something to say about Arsenal's post-match celebrations. Here is that interview.
In the clip that has since gone viral, a Villa TV reporter begins by saying: "The way Arsenal celebrated at the end, it was as if they had already qualified for the Champions League, and you want it to be a hard place to come, Villa Park, that is the ambition of the club, and it shows that they do see this as a big three points."
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Young then responds: “We want to make this a tough place to come and I think it is a tough place. You saw the way they celebrated, to be honest it was like they won the league. But it shows they found it tough.
“We want to be in those European places, we want to get the club back there, and everyone’s got that ambition to get the club back there.
“So we want to make it a tough place to come, but we want to be winning games as well.”
Young isn't the only player to take note of Arsenal's post-match celebrations of late. Back in February, following their hard-fought 1-0 win against Wolves, midfielder Ruben Neves also made the same comment.
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“We saw the way they celebrated the win and that shows the level we are,” he said afterwards.
“I didn’t see Arsenal celebrating like this in the past 10 years – it was like they won the league.”
Topics: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Premier League, Ashley Young