Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal's players have to share responsibility for scoring goals and was pleased to take pressure off Robin van Persie.
Arteta praises all-round team display following Wigan win
Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal's players have to share responsibility for scoring goals and was pleased to take some of the pressure off Robin van Persie at the weekend.
Van Persie has been on an incredible run of form since the start of 2011 and netted for the 32nd time this year in Saturday's 4-0 victory over Wigan.
It has been suggested that the Gunners are too reliant on the Dutch striker, but they were already 3-0 up by the time he struck at the DW Stadium and Arteta was happy to see other players contribute.
Arteta, who broke the deadlock against the Latics, insists Arsenal's recent revival has been very much a team effort.
"For me, it was good the other players scored to take pressure off Robin," said the Spanish midfielder.
"You cannot rely on Robin to score the goals all the time. He is on a terrific run and hopefully he can keep it up.
"He has so much natural quality. He is so good he makes it look as though he is not trying. He scores goals and makes them, he works hard, he is a superstar.
"But it is not fair on Robin. He scores all the time and it was good for us to share the goals around. We have to share the responsibility - it's not just him. "
Better position
Arteta believes the performance against Wigan was one of Arsenal's best since he made the move to Emirates Stadium from Everton over the summer.
He said: "We scored four goals and we could have scored a few more. The team is on a really, really good run at the moment. We are all really positive.
"We knew it would be a difficult game because of the conditions and Wigan are in a difficult position.
"But after the first five or 10 minutes, when we had some problems and they had a chance, we completely dominated the game.
"When I joined the club, we were in a difficult position. We are now much better. We have changed the situation in a positive way.
"My goal initially was to be close to the top before Christmas and now we are."
