Mikel Arteta praised the mentality of Gabriel Martinelli for putting his penalty miss against Sporting CP behind him with his display in Arsenal's 4-1 win over Crystal Palace.
Martinelli's saved spot-kick proved decisive in Arsenal's Europa League last-16 shoot-out defeat to Sporting on Thursday, with Nuno Santos stepping up to eliminate Arteta's men.
The Brazil international was named in Arsenal's starting line-up to face Palace on Sunday and opened the scoring in a routine victory as the Gunners returned to winning ways.
Arteta revealed after the game that he deliberated over whether to include Martinelli from the beginning, but his decision to do so more than paid off.
"The reaction he had after missing the penalty... There's always the question," Arteta told BBC Sport. "But I asked him how he was and he said he wants to be in the team."
Martinelli is Arsenal's leading goalscorer in the Premier League this season with 13 goals, including six in his past six top-flight appearances.
That is the most goals a player has scored in a single campaign for Arsenal while aged 21 or under since Nicolas Anelka's 17 in the 1998-99 campaign.
Reflecting on how he put the disappointment of missing a penalty behind him, Martinelli said: "It is life. Not every game you are going to score and play well.
"Of course I was sad and spent the whole night thinking about that penalty, but it is over. I scored a goal today and we got the three points, which is the most important thing."
Bukayo Saka assisted Martinelli's brilliantly taken opener and scored two goals of his own, either side of Granit Xhaka's strike, as Arsenal made it six league wins in a row.
England international Saka is the only player in the Premier League this season with double figures for both goals (12) and assists (10), but he was upset not to get a hat-trick.
"He was disappointed," Arteta said. "That is what we need. We need our front players firing and making the difference and today they did that again.
"The desire and the energy that we put in right from the beginning impressed me most. We were really determined and focused and left Thursday in the past.
"After playing 120 minutes, they have to come back here and do it again against a team with a lot of needs."
Arsenal have now won 22 Premier League games this season, which is as many as they managed across the whole of last season and their most ever after 28 games.
Arteta's side are eight points clear of Manchester City, who have a game in hand, heading into the final international break of the season.
"It feels very good, especially with the way we have played and the results we have picked up," Arteta said of his side's points advantage on City, who they still have to play.
"Now we must stop and make sure everyone comes back from the internationals with the same mindset. We have Leeds next and we put the focus there."
Palace, who sacked Patrick Vieira earlier this week, are one of two sides yet to win a match in England's top four tiers in 2023 along with League One's Forest Green Rovers.
Jeffrey Schlupp did manage to pull a goal back for Palace at 3-0 when taking advantage of some sloppy defending, which meant Arteta was not entirely pleased with his side.
"I am not happy with that," he said. "Again, it is from a set-piece. We need to improve on that."
With their victory against Palace, Arsenal are the first side in English Football League history to win as many as nine London derbies in a single league season.
Haaland out of Brighton clash, confirms Man City boss Guardiola
Manchester City will be without Erling Haaland when they take on Brighton, Pep Guardiola has confirmed.
Haaland missed Saturday's FA Cup semi-final victory over Chelsea with a muscular injury he sustained against Real Madrid last week.
And the issue will also see the striker, who has scored 20 Premier League goals this season, miss out against the Seagulls on Thursday.
"Erling is not ready for tomorrow," said Guardiola, who added that City will be able to call on Phil Foden and John Stones.
"It's not a big issue but he's not available."
Haaland has scored, on average, every 109 minutes in the league this season.
However, the Norwegian has actually underperformed his expected goals (xG) of 23.7.
He has also chipped in with five assists, giving him an overall goal contributions tally of 25. Haaland has created 28 goalscoring chances for team-mates across the campaign.
After Arsenal's 5-0 thrashing of Chelsea on Tuesday, reigning Premier League champions Manchester City sit four points off the summit in third place, albeit with two games in hand.
Second-place Liverpool will aim to move level on points with the Gunners by beating Merseyside rivals Everton on Wednesday.
Liverpool line up Feyenoord coach Slot as Klopp replacement
Arne Slot appears to be at the front of the queue to replace Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager.
Klopp confirmed in January that he would be leaving the Reds at the end of the season.
Xabi Alonso, who has led Bayer Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title, was swiftly established as a leading candidate to take the helm at Anfield, where he starred as a player for the Reds between 2004 and 2009.
The 42-year-old, however, is staying put in Germany, and Liverpool's search for Klopp's successor has taken them to Feyenoord's door.
Slot has been previously linked to jobs in the Premier League. Leeds United wanted to appoint him last season before their relegation to the Championship, while he was targeted by Tottenham before they appointed Ange Postecoglou.
The Dutchman intimated when linked with Spurs: "A normal next step would be to go abroad and I've always said that the best league in the world is the Premier League."
Ideally, Liverpool will be aiming for a coach who can come close to replicating Klopp's style of play, and in particular has a flair for working with and developing young players.
Slot has enjoyed fantastic success in Rotterdam. He became Feyenoord head coach in December 2022, after leaving AZ, and went on to win the Eredivisie title in 2022-23, having reached the Europa League final in the previous season.
The 45-year-old has a 64.4 per cent win record from 146 games in charge, winning 94, drawing 29 and losing just 23.
His Feyenoord team have scored 329 goals, an average of 2.2 per match, conceding 147 in return. Slot's points per game is a hugely impressive 2.13.
Feyenoord are, though, set to relinquish their Eredivisie crown, as they trail leaders PSV by nine points. They have, however, won the KNVB Cup this term.
As there is no break clause in the Dutchman's contract, it has been reported that a compensation fee in the region of €10million (£8.5m) could prise him away from Feyenoord.
Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim is another coach who has been heavily linked with the Liverpool job, albeit he is reportedly in talks with West Ham.
Allegri says Juventus are victims of own success after clinching Coppa Italia final berth
Massimiliano Allegri declared Juventus have been victims of their own success this season after watching his Bianconeri side eliminate Lazio to reach the Coppa Italia final on Tuesday.
Juventus took a 2-0 lead into Tuesday's semi-final second leg at Stadio Olimpico but saw that advantage wiped out when Valentin Castellanos scored either side of half-time.
However, a late strike from Arkadiusz Milik handed Juventus a 3-2 aggregate success and ensured they will appear in their eighth Coppa Italia final in the last 10 years.
Despite Juventus having a chance to lift their first major trophy since 2021 and being on course for a return to the Champions League, Allegri has continued to be criticised by sections of the media.
He believes Tuesday's achievement should be celebrated, however, saying: "It's never easy to reach a final, in the last three years we have played two Coppa Italia finals.
"Now we must concentrate on Serie A, as we have not yet achieved Champions League qualification and this weekend it's the head-to-head with Milan."
Juventus sit third in Serie A ahead of Saturday's home clash with the Rossoneri, and with Italy guaranteed five Champions League places for next season, they are almost certain to be back among Europe's elite in 2024-25.
However, Juventus' drop-off in the second half of the season has led to continued speculation regarding Allegri's future.
At the turn of the year, Juventus were just two points behind Inter at the top of the table, but the Nerazzurri are now 22 points clear of their rivals and have clinched the Scudetto with five games to spare.
Allegri believes a fine start to the season gave rise to unreasonable expectations in Turin, adding: "This final is also worth Supercoppa Italiana qualification, so that is important financially.
"Criticism will always be around Juventus, but it's our own fault for having a great first half to the season that nobody was expecting.
"At that point, people thought we could fight it out with Inter, but I was worried that we could have difficulties in the second half. We had a big advantage and mentally rather let go."
Juventus will face either Atalanta or Fiorentina in next month's final, with the Viola holding a 1-0 lead in the other semi-final tie ahead of Wednesday's second leg in Bergamo.
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