English Premier League: Arsenal 4-1 Liverpool
Arsene Wenger reacts:
on whether it was the perfect performance…
Perfect? You always have imperfections in any game but I feel we started with a great intensity, which is what we wanted to put them under pressure. We created some early chances after and then when we relieved the pressure they had one or two chances. Liverpool are a good side going forwards and they always look dangerous. We had a killing instinct and took advantage of our strong moments in the first half. In fairness we played at a good pace and had some good combination game in the final third. The second half was more down to, can we maintain the discipline, intensity and not allow them to come back early? We did that. We had many chances on the break that I’ve seen again but in the end it was 4-1 which is very convincing in a very important game.
on the title race…
That’s not enough. What we can master now mathematically is the top four, where we will finish. For the title we need us to be perfect and Chelsea not to be perfect, so let’s focus on what we can master which means our own performance and go with the same intensity in the same game.
on Mesut Ozil…
What he does is always classy, intelligent and the timing of his passes is absolutely fantastic. He’s agile, flexible and always available in between the lines. When you play with him in the team, you would love to play with him. He’s sometimes criticised because of his physical challenges but I believe he’s on the way and is improving on that at the moment. He makes a big effort to work hard and be disciplined for the team.
on Alexis Sanchez…
He worked very hard. He gave absolutely everything and had a great first half. Alexis is a guy who never gives up. He played two games with Chile, Ozil played two games with Germany and I could see that their legs had gone a little bit with 25 minutes to go. I had a decision to make between him or Ozil and I subbed Ozil because I felt he was in danger of being injured. Alexis did fight very hard until the end.
on Raheem Sterling…
We have been linked by the media. At the moment we are not in a transfer period at all. We are focused on Burnley next week and we have plenty of offensive players. If you look at who we had on the bench, we had Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky and Danny Welbeck who did not start the game.
on whether he was surprised at the scoreline…
I’m always cautious about that. We took our chances very well and in two minutes we scored two goals. The difference always looks much bigger than it is then. Liverpool are a good side and they will recover from that.
on whether this is an important step…
Yes. We moved forward. We missed important players at the start of the season where we dropped too many points. If you look since everybody’s been back and available, the number of points we have made shows we have the quality to fight at the top. When you start the championship with the players coming back from the World Cup not available and having big players out for three or four months, we played six games in the Premier League and won one. You have a mountain to climb after. We are a consistent side and consistency is linked with quality.
on Laurent Koscielny…
He had a muscular problem on his thigh, but a small one.
on Hector Bellerin…
He’s one of the surprises of the season. He was at Watford on loan last year and didn’t get the games. He’s just 20 years old, if you look at what he does at 20 years of age… He played against a great player today in Sterling in the second half. Maybe he still has some experience to gain but defending one against one is good and going forward is good as well. He scored an important goal in a big game and that always shows that the guy has the mental quality to be there.
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