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Wenger on Iwobi, Ozil and Everton

The boss spoke to the media after Arsenal's 2-0 win against Everton. Below is a transcript of what was said: 

on Alex Iwobi…
He is an intelligent boy who is passionate about the game and wants to learn. He is very humble as well. He is 19 years old. He has been at the club since the age of eight. I was looking at him in training during the season and in pre-season and I liked what he did. After that, he improved very quickly with the first team. Month after month, he developed very well and that is why I integrated him and played him.

on the first-half performance…
I believe we have a game based on movement and mobility at a technical level with attacking football. We have to balance that right and sometimes it is not always right. Let’s not forget that some players have been out for the whole season so players like Danny Welbeck are just coming back and has not played. Iwobi is just coming into the team. Mohamed Elneny [as well], we brought him in January and he has settled very quickly. They have given us a very good balance in the way we want to play football. In England, it is very hard to give a fair assessment of the performance because when you lose, you are disastrous. We have not been as bad as people as said, but I agree that you either win or lose in sport. Let’s go on and push forward until the end of the season. We are today with our backs to the walls and we responded well. I’m pleased that we responded under pressure [after] the character of my players was questioned. If we didn’t win today, we knew that we were out of it [the title race] so it was a mental test for the side.

on if Arsenal losing would mean they are are out the title race…
Yes.

on the title race…
I would not consider us out. Mathematically, we have a chance. We also have a game in hand at home. We are not flavour of the week, but if we don’t believe, no one will do it for us. Even if the environment is sceptical, we have to do our best in every single game. We have to be humble and fight in every game like we did today. Then we never know. We need some performances on our side, so let’s focus on that, but some good results from other sides, we cannot help that.

on Ozil…
It is an ankle problem, but it looks more of a kick than an ankle problem. 

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