Cardiff 0-3 Arsenal
Arsenal is now 7 points clear of Liverpool and Chelsea – Coach Wenger
on how pleased he was with the result…
I’m very pleased because we had a good performance. Of course we scored three goals but, not only offensively, I think defensively we were quite sound as well. Our defenders had a very good game. Overall the concentration level in the team was very, very good. That was needed because we knew Cardiff can punish you in set-pieces with their strengths in the challenges and their drive with the crowd behind them. We had a mature performance and a focused one.
on the title race…
Let’s go a few more games. It’s still a bit early for me but what is good for us is that we can show consistency and that’s always a very good sign for a team. Every win makes you a bit stronger. If we can take care of the concentration level and the desire to improve then we will have a good chance.
on whether he would have believed Arsenal’s lead at the start of the season…
No I wouldn’t believe it, no. Because you remember that we lost the first game at home against Aston Villa and nobody could imagine the situation today. That’s why as well we have to keep a level of urgency that is good and a level of concentration because things change quickly and you can relax a little bit too much.
on whether Ramsey keeps surprising him…
Yeah he has developed and matured not only as a player but as a person as well. A few years ago we came here in a cup game and he had a very, very difficult game. And now it shows you how much he has developed as a person as well.
on the reaction of the Cardiff fans when Ramsey scored…
Fantastic. You would like to see that much more and I have a big respect for that. They are proud to be Welsh here.
on Olivier Giroud‘s chance in the first half…
He said to me that the linesman took the flag up and down again but since somebody told me that he was offside in fact because [Mesut] Ozil touched the ball.
on whether Ramsey is as good as Bale…
I was a midfielder and I would have loved to have what he has. He can defend, he can attack, he can score goals – what more do you want? And he’s young – another quality that I have lost as well. That shows you that he can develop more when you look at his improvement in the last two years, why should he stop now? I think there’s a lot more to come and if he continues to play like that you have a good future with Wales.
on Ramsey not scoring many with his head…
He scored with a very convincing header. I haven’t seen him scoring headers like that.
on whether he bought Ramsey quite cheaply…
Look it was a good price at the time. We have to put that into perspective a little bit because the transfers have gone up in the last two or three years but when I bought him it was a good price.
on whether he would sell Ramsey for £50million…
No we don’t want to sell anybody. We just want to keep our team together. I suffered enough for years for having to sell the players and now we are in a stronger position financially so we are not out there to sell our best players.
on the pressure this win puts on the other teams…
I’m happy to have done the job here and watch the other games tomorrow but that’s all we can do – we do the job and prepare for the next game.
on the Hull game…
The difference between the teams now is not very big. As soon as you relax a bit or are not focused 100 per cent you drop points so that’s basically one of our targets is to go into the game every time with 100 per cent focus.
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