Manager Arsene Wenger has said that Arsenal showed their class first in the Boxing Day victory over Queens Park Rangers before then showing their resilience towards the end of the game as we were reduced to ten men following Olivier Giroud’s daft moment of stupidity.
With goals coming from Sanchez and Rosicky, Arsenal returned to sixth place in the league and he told the Official Site at full time.
‘It was a combination of class and resilience. The class first, the resilience came in when we were down to ten men, and the score was 2-1. We have shown another aspect that I like as well, because we did throw our body in and overall the defensive commitment was great.’
With Alexis taking the man of the match vote with his performance that even saw a missed penalty, Wenger picked him out for special praise on the day.
‘You could see he was carrying that (miss) for a while, but the goal helped him a lot to get over it. He got the penalty, he scored the goal and he gave an assist for Tomas, and he looked always dangerous. I also liked Tomas’ game, he was classy and I think he had a great game.’
Moving back to the game, he did explain our performance in a little more detail and admitted we did make it hard for ourselves at points.
‘We made it hard for ourselves but we played two types of games. One where we’re in control of the game until it went 2-1. After, you never know. The last five minutes were a bit edgy because we conceded a late goal last week and you could feel that was a bit in our mind. But overall I think we were in control for big parts and fortunately got the three points.’
As for the sending off, Wenger rightly had no complaints given Giroud’s reaction.
‘It was a deserved red card. Madness is a strong word, but he didn’t kill him, he touched him and should not have done it. He should have been in control. Giroud knows he made a mistake and I know him well enough to think that he will not do it again.’
Wenger goes on to say that it was out of character for him, and he normally controls himself well and keeps his focus in moments like that so he did posit that maybe with his previous injury at the back of his mind that played a part, but there’s no excuse for that and words had already been said, because it could’ve cost us the victory ultimately.
Not sure Wenger had to say anything, just playing him the clip of that ‘stare’ as he walked off spoke a thousand words.
One little record was achieved at full time though, that was Wenger’s 400th Premier League win.
‘It was a tough one today, it doesn’t become easier. Honestly, you don’t have a feeling because there is so much in the next game. I’m happy I could win 400 and it’s not as easy as it looks – the next 400 will be much more difficult.’
Moving on to tomorrow’s encounter against West Ham, it will be an obvious reunion with Alex Song and the gaffer needs no introduction to his qualities having given him his Premier League debut aged 18.
‘He didn’t play on Friday against Chelsea. He was certainly rested for us. I think he was a very good player when he was here but he didn’t play a lot when he was in Spain. You don’t need to convince me he’s a good player.’
Knowing, that with their current form, West Ham will be another tough battle for us, especially with us then heading into the Southampton game, he commented that whilst he was pleased to see us move up the table following our last win, he doesn’t feel the festive period will be ‘decisive’ when it comes to the league because there are so many games left.
‘It’s very tight and it’s down to consistency now. We know every game now is down to consistency and reproducing the performances. We need to prepare quickly, focus and that is an ability we want to show at West Ham. The plan is to sleep well and recover. We want to stay in the game. It’s very quick and interesting as well.’
As for team news, he hasn’t ruled out changes but we are now without Giroud as he serves a three match ban, but he says Laurent Koscielny will be assessed (today) and he may come back into contention saying he has a ‘little chance’ and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has an ‘even smaller chance’ of returning to contention as well.
With Theo Walcott being back on the bench, he says he’s ‘not far away’ so may get a run out depending on how the game goes, but he felt with how the QPR game was set, that wasn’t the right time to bring him back in.
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