Philip Billing scored the second-fastest goal in Premier League history to put the visitors, who were in danger of relegation, ahead after just 9.11 seconds.
Marco Senesi scored for Arteta's team to make it 2-0 in the second half, but goals from Thomas Partey, Ben White, and Nelson turned the game around and sparked wild celebrations.
‘It’s crazy, you lose sight of where you are,’ said Arteta. ‘I started to run and didn’t really know where I was running to. I saw a kid here next to me, then I ran into security. But just looking in the faces of everybody, the players and our supporters with those smiles, the joy in their eyes, it’s just great.
‘It was an extraordinary day, a beautiful experience at the end. Very dramatic, but worth living it, because it was a great end.’
White's equalizer was set up by Nelson, who came on as a substitute with 20 minutes left. Nelson's left-footed half-volley from the edge of the area completed Arsenal's first comeback victory in 11 years.
The 23-year-old academy graduate's four months of injury hell came to an end, and Arteta praised his hero afterward.
Arteta added: ‘Everybody was overwhelmed. It was madness from the first 10 seconds of the game, and we had to climb a mountain against 10 players behind the ball. Suddenly we were 2-0 down, and after that it’s don’t lose the shape, don’t lose the discipline, do the simple things right, score the first goal and we did that.
'We showed a lot of maturity and resilience to do that, and when we’ve done that the atmosphere of the place changed the energy.’
It is the fourth time since the World Cup break that Arsenal has come back to win a game they were trailing in. This is the third time this season that they have scored a winning goal after the 90th minute.
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