Wenger on Wilshere and staying top

Arsene Wenger spoke to the media after Sunday's 1-1 draw at West Brom. Read on for a transcript of what he said: 

on whether he was pleased with a point…
Pleased? No because I want to win but if you ask me if it was a fair point over the 90 minutes I would say yes. Why? Because we were 1-0 down just before half-time and straight after half-time Anelka misses a chance for 2-0 and that would have made it difficult. After that I have some regrets because when we came back to 1-1 in the last half an hour we had the chances to score a second goal but we have shown spirit to come back and we did give it our all until the end to try to win.

But they did as well and they have many players who can provoke one against one on the break and run with the ball so they made it difficult for us and they defended very well. West Brom confirmed today why they won at Manchester United because they have good pace in every position and they have a huge squad. When you think today Anichebe was not there and they had Long and Morrsion on the bench. Dorrans was not in the squad so they have a massive squad of quality players.

on showing resilience after not scoring the first goal…
It did require special resilience because they didn't give us any space, they were well organised and we needed find something special to score.

on Wilshere scoring his first league goal since November 2010…
At least that is done now but he had a difficult first half where he was fouled a lot but he has shown that he has character and kept going until the end. It's good that he was rewarded.

on Wilshere being fouled a lot…
He was pushed over a lot. I don't think there was any dirty fouls on him but he was pushed a lot and didn't get the fouls. I think in the second half he gave some great balls to score where we had chances. Overall he he had a very good second half.

on speaking to Wilshere before the game..
No, he is an honest guy and when he is wrong he knows it. I think today the players don't get away with anything. We got away with it a bit more but they know that's the rules of the modern game. They have to deal with it and I think he learns very quickly. What is more interesting for him and for Arsenal is that he shows the right response on the pitch.

on Wilshere's honesty about his goalscoring form…
I don't think he will ever be a goalscorer but he is a player who can create chances for others. In our job it's quite simple, you need players who score and players who give the ball to those who score. He is more in the second category than the first. But of course from the second category you want a few goals so it's good that he knows he can score goals. Let's not forget that we had the same problem with Ramsey a while ago and suddenly once they start to score it comes naturally.

on going into the international break top…
I feel it was important not to lose once we were down today and that is the most important thing. For the mental comfort it's good to remain top after two away games.

on being light on the bench without Cazorla and Walcott…
We have lost games away from home with all of our players available so ideally you want everybody back and available. I can't complain because today I had Rosicky, Gnabry who scored last week, Bendtner, Vermaelen and Monreal all on the bench so we have quality.

on having the mentality of champions…
A mentality of being champions is built up through the season and I believe that we continue to focus on the way we want to play. We have desire, we have the spirit but we are only in October, in March and April you can show that you have the mentality of champions but at the moment it's early and it's good to continue our run.