on the final score...
"I believe it's a good result for us
considering Tottenham created more chances tonight. We had a good
start for thirty minutes and after we gave a goal away and just
before half time they created two or three really good chances, you
know, they didn't take. In the second half I feel we were a
bit... we were better defensively but we didn't create many
chances but we had resilience and didn't give in, and in the
end we came back to one-one, that is a good result for
us."
on Tottenham ...
"They are on their way up, yes, they have
played well tonight, but you need consistency in your results to
know that, I feel quality is first down to consistency. That's
why they played well tonight, I don't deny that at all, but we
have to repeat the same performances every three days, and every
four days, and that is very difficult."
on the return leg ...
"In two weeks it can change completely, I feel
we are in a good position, considering the game tonight, to make
it. At two-nil it would have certainly have killed the game for us
and the chance to qualify maybe, but a one-one - we are in a good
position, a good opportunity. "
on a hangover from the FA Cup...
"I feel we were not at our best physically
tonight, I feel we had not recovered completely from our Burnley
game. Tottenham was sharper than us tonight but we have shown
mental resilience and strength and for such a young team that is a
positive attitude."
on new injuries...
"Djourou was injured, Senderos is injured, Van
Persie got injured. So, we had no injuries before the game started
but tonight considering that we lost three players, and we lost
three players in the African Nations Cup, we lost suddenly in one
night six players... basically in two days - that is very difficult
for us."
on Van Persie's problem...
"We have to see tomorrow morning, is it just
scar tissue? Sometimes, you know, when you come back after a long
time, is it just a question of two days or is it longer, we'll
see that tomorrow."
on his central defenders...
"Djourou is a problem we had already at
Birmingham so that means for me it came back, a groin problem, you
know? Senderos, a little mid-knee ligament he got in the first
half, so we'll see. We have to assess all that, I cannot tell
you how long they will be out, it can be one, two days, it can be
two weeks! It's difficult to assess tonight. Hoyte, Gilberto,
Sagna can play in there, we still have solutions."
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 9 Jan 2008