Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Arsenal
It was a must win for the Gunners in the title race and they delivered. An early for Tomas Rosicky after less than 90 seconds put Arsenal in the lead which they will not give up. Arsenal can mathematically pass Chelsea with two more games in hands.
Coach Wenger reacts:
on a huge a result…
It is a huge result. We were under pressure to win before the game because of course it was a very important game. After that it was a mixture, our early goal a little bit influenced too much the way we played because we missed the second goal and after that we wanted to protect the lead. Sometimes we were under pressure, Tottenham played well you must say. For me they were absolutely up for it and we needed some special resilience to get away with it. As long as we didn’t score the second goal of course it was a very tight game. But in the end for us it’s three massive points.
on Mertesakcer and Koscielny…
They were exceptional for the whole game. They were already at Bayern I think and even after when Vermaelen came on we finished with the three [centre-backs] and they didn’t create the chances anymore.
on Mertesacker and Koscielny’s partnership…
I think so. Today you needed to be top because Adebayor was sharp and up for it, like he always is against us. He had a great game Adebayor and overall we needed a good defensive performance and that of course goes through our two centre backs.
on the bond between the players and the supporters…
You go in the dressing room and you know that it means a lot because we know we needed the three points. We had a disappointing result at Stoke and I think that was still in our mind. Overall we know to stay in the race it was vital to win. Our away fans have been brilliant since the start of the season.
on the title race…
It gets us a bit closer to Chelsea and makes the game next week even more interesting. We are now back to four points, we have a game in hand and we have played two away games on the trot because Swansea was postponed so we have five games at home. We’ll see, it makes the next game a very big one.
on the next two games being against direct rivals…
The next game will have a vital importance. I believe as well we came out of three games, Everton, Bayern and today where mentally every time you have to be absolutely focused. That’s where I think our defenders have done extremely well because there is no ordinary moment in a game like that and they managed to keep their focus up completely for 90 minutes in every single game.
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