on the win…
We enjoyed the game. I enjoyed our technical side, our creative side, our spirit and how disciplined and focused we were. The regret you have is that there were more goals in this game than the number of goals we scored. Overall, it’s a good basis to finish the season well. Let’s just keep that spirit, that attitude and play the football we want to play.
on Monreal’s injury…
It’s not bad, two or three days. He hit the post. It’s bruised on the hip I think.
on Wilshere and Walcott’s injuries…
I don’t think Jack will return next week at West Brom, Maybe the after. Theo has a chance to be fit again next week.
on Gervinho…
Gervinho’s performance was very strong. He was always dangerous. He always looked like he could score. He gave assists and scored. I believe that sometimes Gervinho has lost confidence because he played in a very negative atmosphere during a period. Strikers need confidence, and [with] his game, even more. He’s always taking the ball, going forward and provoking [the play]. Now he has found his confidence back, he’s a very dangerous player. At the Africa Cup of Nations, for me he was the best striker. He is the type of player who is difficult to find because they always go at people.
on if Arsenal are playing for third now…
What we do is we look at the table and we are still behind Chelsea and Tottenham. We are not in a calculation mode. We can just win our next game and continue to do what we do at the moment. We are on a run so let’s take care of the quality of our game and that run. After, we’ll see where we stand. It will be less predictable than it was predicted. We have a word to say in that and we want to give our best to do it.
on Chelsea’s upcoming fixtures in three different competitions…
I don’t know. We will see in the end. It can be very positive if you are on a good run, and very negative if you are in bad form. Let’s just take care of the way we play, take care of our spirit and give it all. We have the experience, we have done it before and it is what we want to do again. I am sure we will but it demands a lot of dedication and nerves until the end.
on if Arsenal should have had a penalty when Giroud went down…
I thought it was a penalty but the referee said it was not. And I have learned from my long experience that the referee is always right.
on goal difference…
Let’s make sure it does not go to goal difference, and if it does, that it is in our favour. At the moment, I believe we have +26, Chelsea +27 and Tottenham +15. That means there is a long way to go. At the moment, we are at the same level as Chelsea, and it is down to us. If we win our games, we will have a better goal difference, that is all we can do.
on if Gervinho is playing for his future…
Gervinho did not play for his future, he was just playing for his club. That is what every player does. We are a group of players who want to go for it, and to go for it together. Sometimes Gervinho plays, sometimes Walcott, sometimes Podolski, but we can only do it if we all have the same target and do it together.
on Diaby’s injury…
That was the shock of the week for us because I thought originally it was just a little twist of the knee. When they told me it was a rupture of his cruciate, and when you know what this guys has gone through, how many times he has worked day and night to come back in rehab, it is just demoralising. I hope he will find the resources and the strength to come back, because he was quite down. When you look at the number of problems he had, the surgeries, he is 26 years old and has had four or five big surgeries. That demands a lot of mental strength to come back and I hope he will not give up and will continue.
