On a late fightback...
"Well, we had a terrible start and we played
against a good Fulham side, against a good goalkeeper. Apart from
that I thought we were resilient, we didn't give up for 90
minutes. We were physically strong, mentally strong, and that's
the kind of result that changes the team, you know? We had our
backs to the wall, we didn't give in and in the end we won the
game. Maybe you could say it's lucky, but I don't believe
too much in luck."
On Fulham...
"Fulham finished very, very tired because they
run a lot, after the ball. They did fight a lot and I must say
Fulham had qualities. They could have scored the second goal and
that would have ended our hopes tonight. "
On starting with three points...
"This is the kind of the result that can change
the season for a team, because we know we were one-nil down and
came back and won the game, and that's at least a positive
start. To lose that game today would certainly have been a big blow
to the team because everybody says, it's after Thierry Henry
has left, to start with a a loss would have been really, really
difficult."
On Jen's early mistake...
"First of all I was surprised he made a mistake
because you know he is an experienced keeper and you want to deal
well with your first ball. I think he changed his mind and then he
was not quick enough to respond to his brain, because then he lost
his co-ordination and made a mistake. Maybe he was guilty of
changing his mind, I have not spoken to him. He's certainly the
happiest boy in the dressing room tonight."
On accusations of diving...
"No. Hleb is adamant there was a 100 per cent
penalty on him. I'm ready to look at that on the video because
on the bench it's impossible to say or not, but it didn't
look to me like he dived."
On the pressure...
"I was not stressed today because I felt that
the players would give everything to win. And as long as you that
in the team, and you have quality on the pitch, you always have
hope. I saw that some of their defenders started to have cramps. I
felt, if you continue to the last second, it's just sometimes a
yard that makes a little bit more fatigue, and you know some of
them will not respond any more if you continue to give them a
problem."
On Hleb playing behind the striker...
"Hleb is doing very well in there, I felt that
sometimes Van Persie was a bit isolated, when Bendtner came on and
was supporting him it was a bit easier. But sometimes it depends on
the games."
Copyright 2013 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source 12 Aug 2007