Arsene Wenger spoke to the media after Arsenal's 3-0 victory against Burnley on Saturday afternoon. This is what he had to say:
on the win…
We had a strong team pressure and we had to intensify that in the second half, which we did. Slowly you could see that the chances were coming and at the end of the day, it became easy when it was 2-0. They did very hard and we did make mistakes at the back. Overall I think it was a very satisfying win. Recently at home we haven’t got the results we wanted but for the confidence of the team it’s also important to win without conceding a goal.
on whether Arsenal’s patience was impressive…
Yes. In the recent games at home we were not patient and we have learned. We look a bit more balanced between offence and defence. We were less in trouble when we lost the ball today - we were serious and that is very important in the efficiency.
on Alexis Sanchez showing he’s a ‘street fighter’…
The header he scored is that. It’s more the result of determination and desire than doing something special technically. He has the attributes of a fighter and of a quality, talent player. That’s what you want to see in every football player.
on Alexis winning matches…
Since he’s played through the middle he looks more goal dangerous. Now it looks to me that he’s really dangerous through the centre of the pitch because he’s in full confidence, he’s physically strong, he likes to take people on as well and he makes perfect runs. Through the centre of the pitch maybe he’s more dangerous.
on whether Alexis gives them more belief…
Yeah of course. I think we had about 30 crosses today and for a while we couldn’t win any headers but in the end he got there and he really jumped very high. He’s a winner.
on Theo Walcott’s return…
It’s good I could give him 12 or 13 minutes today when the game was nearly won. It’s good that his decision making and movement are good - he just needs to get used to competition.
on how his return gave the stadium a lift…
Of course. For him it must be great as well to see that everybody wants him to come on. Lukas Podolski also could have scored two and he came on very well when you think that we have not got a number of offensive players like Ozil, Wilshere and Giroud. There’s a lot of competition in the forward positions.
on playing 4-4-2…
We played 4-4-2 and we played like that against Sunderland. It works because he [Alexis] works very hard so we can afford to do it. We have to balance the midfield and defence.
on Jack Wilshere…
He has not practiced yet. Will he be available? We’ll see. I think he will try tomorrow, Monday latest.
on any new injuries…
No.
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