Mikel Arteta is delighted with the way his young Arsenal players are "evolving" as the Gunners fought their way into the FA Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 win at Sheffield United.
It appeared the game was headed for extra-time when David McGoldrick cancelled out Nicolas Pepe's first-half penalty in the 87th minute.
Advertisement
Arsenal responded with an injury-time winner through Dani Ceballos, though, and head coach Arteta was impressed with the attitude of his youngsters.
"They [Arsenal's young players] are evolving and they are really willing and finding a lot of personality to play," he told BT Sport.
"You can see the way they played and Eddie [Nketiah] the way he came on and fights with everybody, he doesn't care. I really like that."
After back-to-back defeats to resume their halted Premier League season, Arsenal have rebounded with a top-flight win against Southampton and their cup success versus the Blades.
"We really needed that, we played four away games after the coronavirus [break], it's not easy to do that in the Premier League and hopefully we can get some momentum going now," Arteta said.
La magia de la #EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/x4EKF1CDl3
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) June 28, 2020
Arsenal are back at Wembley and two wins away from lifting a first trophy under Arteta, who was appointed Unai Emery's successor in November.
The Spaniard says Arsenal remain very much a work-in-progress, though.
"We still have a massive gap to fill in, we have to improve many departments a lot, we have to respect the process," he added.
"It's been really difficult, stop-start, stop-start, but we'll get it right. I'm convinced of that, we just need a little bit of time that's all."
Speaking to BBC Sport, he added: "It is a great opportunity to try and win a title and play in Europe."
David Luiz returned from suspension but lasted just 54 minutes of the contest at Bramall Lane.
Providing a brief update at his post-match news conference, Arteta said: "It was his ankle. He will get it assessed tomorrow [Monday]."