The Gunners had to work hard and come from behind against a determined Palace outfit.
Having gone 1-0 down in the first half, they rallied in the second period to win 3-2 thanks to a Gabriel Jesus hat-trick.
“Yeah, I was very happy for various reasons,” Arteta told club media after the game.
“The first one obviously because we’re in the semi-final of a competition that we want to win. The game started in a very difficult way with a very naïve goal that we gave away and put the situation into a complicated one. After that spell in the first half that we didn’t have that continuous momentum to create threat and opportunities, we made some changes and some adjustments in the way we had to play, and we became a real threat.
“On top of that, obviously, a big night for Gabby, a big night for a player that constantly tries and is not someone that is going to keep anything for himself – he tries to give his best to the team.
“Today, he produced three great moments, helped us to obviously win the game. And for other players like Kieran, like Raz (Raheem), that hasn’t played many minutes, that they feel important and feel they can contribute to the team in the right way, so a good night.”
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