Neal Maupay says his perseverance paid off after a superb injury-time winner sunk Arsenal at the Amex.
For the second time this season the Frenchman was on target against the Gunners as Albion completed the double over Mikel Arteta's team having also won 2-1 at the Emirates back in December.
That game seemed an awfully long time ago with Albion returning to action after a break of 105 days and claiming their first win since beating Bournemouth 2-0 on December 28.
Maupay had been denied by a superb save from goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who had replaced Bernd Leno when the German suffered a twisted knee after landing awkwardly when Maupay challenged him for the ball in the first half.
He said, “You have to keep believing in yourself and even though I didn’t score with my first shot I knew that if I got another chance I would score and fortunately that’s what happened.
“You need to stay focused because anything can happen even right at the end of a game. That’s what the manager keeps telling us and why he keeps believing in me.”
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Pepe had put Arsenal in front in the 68th minute but Lewis Dunk scrambled an equaliser seven minutes later and Maupay felt Albion got stronger in the closing stages.
“Even after they scored I felt we could still get something from the game.,” he added. “It’s a huge three points for us – we hadn’t won in 2020 so we have done that now and it’s very good for the boys, the club and the fans.”
Maupay said that Arteta absolved him of any blame for the incident which led to Leno being stretchered off in the first half.
He added, “I just went in for the ball. I don’t stop until the referee blows the whistle. I never meant to injure him, I think that happened when he landed and twisted his knee. Mikel Arteta told me ‘it’s football.’ He saw the video, he knows I didn’t mean to hurt him.”