The Gunners won 2-1, with Saka jumping from the bench to put the hosts 2-0 ahead on the night.
Arteta said: “It was a beautiful reaction from our people to show him that love, respect and admiration and he fully deserves. His reaction straight away after scoring was to say thank you to all the sports scientists, physios and everyone who has participated in his recovery. It tells you who he is as a person, so it's impossible not to love him.
“He's trained with us for the last nine days, and he’s been impressive straight away. The problem that we put for him was very demanding by respecting the timeframes because we knew that the moment that we throw him in, he needs to be ready because it's the most important part of the season, so, I'm really pleased with that.”
Arteta was also happy seeing Mikel Merino score again for Arsenal.
He continued: "He was playing in a new position today, he's playing in two different positions.
“He's an intelligent, committed player who has a lot of qualities that you recognise, and others you probably don't from the outside.
“Some big performances today. Ethan (Nwaneri) had really good moments, (Gabriel) Martinelli was superb as well. His aggression, his determination to create a lot of issues for the defensive line. Overall, I’m very happy.
“It's a long time without being together. They've all been coached differently and in different environments and to play the way we played, with that aggression, that commitment, that quality at times, and be so dominant was very impressive.
“Being very strong at home gives you that confidence for the remaining part of the season, that we can do it. The downside to today is the uncertainty on the physical condition of Gabi and Jurrien, but tomorrow we can assess that.”