English Premier League – Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal
Coach Arsene Wenger speaks after the game:
on whether he was happy with the performance…
Yeah of course. We had a different game on Wednesday. Sunderland had a big defeat last week and before the game what we wanted was the three points and we got them. I believe we were quite in control as long as we could scorethe second goal. Of course you [can] concede a goal and drop points but we didn’t do it today – we were focused, maybe we missed some opportunities in the final third and the final ball. Overall we are very happy to get the three points. We won at Anderlecht, we won here today, two and a half days later and that’s never easy.
on not taking chances in the second half…
It can happen and Sunderland were focused on defending very well today because they conceded many goals last week. I felt in the first half they were a bit low in confidence but in the second half they came out more and we had more chances on the break. When you have such a big defeat – and we have all gone through that – you go down in confidence quickly but you regain it slowly. The game today will improve Sunderland’s confidence levels. I think they’ll be alright.
on Alexis Sanchez scoring easy goals…
He took advantage of the mistakes they made but he’s also got a super quality – he’s quickly on your feet which is why he wins many balls that normal players don’t. He’s very quick in transition from offence to defence and wins the ball back very quickly. We can take advantage of that.
on whether he has sympathy for Mannone…
Of course. He has been educated at Arsenal. He’s like everybody else – the confidence has dropped a little bit because of the defeat last week but he has shown his quality since he arrived here and will show that again.
on Theo Walcott…
He’s fit. He lacks competition. Physically he lacks two things: contact in the Premier League and competition. But fitness wise there is no problem at all.
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