Alexandre Lacazette reveals what Mikel Arteta told Arsenal players in angry half-time team talk against Leeds

Mikel Arteta

Alexandre Lacazette says Mikel Arteta "shouted a lot" at half-time of Arsenal's 1-0 victory over Leeds on Monday.

The Championship leaders were the better team in the opening 45 minutes of the weekend's final FA Cup third-round clash.

Marcelo Bielsa's side dominated proceedings at the Emirates Stadium but were unable to break the deadlock in the first period.

Arteta was nevertheless angry at his team's performance, which improved significantly after the interval.

Reiss Nelson's goal ultimately secured the Gunners' passage to the fourth round, but Lacazette has revealed that Arteta was far from content at the break.

“He shouted a lot! He was not happy because we knew they were going to play like this and we didn't respect what he said,” Lacazette told BBC Sport. “The second half was better and thank you, Reiss, for the goal!

“Emotions are very high. They played very well in the first half and of course Leeds are a great team, I think they pressed us and we didn't expect it. We got the final goal in the end and that's the most important thing.

“I think [shouting a lot] is good – as a coach you always need to have the aggressive side and obviously the side where he's loving as well,” the 20-year-old said.

“In training he's always asking us to press with passion and play with purpose. Sometimes we played out wide, sometimes we played down the middle and it's all paying off.

“It gives us confidence to go forward on the [Crystal] Palace game [on Saturday], we want to go there and we want to do well. Getting two wins at the Emirates is good and we're just going to carry on going forward.”

Victory over Palace in the weekend's early kick-off would see Arsenal climb into the top eight of the Premier League, at least temporarily.

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Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).