Wenger on the win, Sanogo and Wilshere

Arsene Wenger faced the media after Arsenal's 2-0 win against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night. This is what he had to say:

on the perfect start…
We had a good start and overall it was a very intense game between two very good teams where you had to fight for every ball and be focused. I felt we had a good combination between our usual passing game and our transition from defence to attack. We were highly focused to defend well together from the first to the last minute and we always looked dangerous. Defensively we were very good as well.

on the win after losing two in a row…
We were more under pressure because on Saturday we played well but maybe we were victims of our generous attitude going forward. Here we had a bit more urgency to defend, especially when we were 1-0 up.

on whether they focused on urgency…
We talked about it. The difference in the big games is being 1-0 up or 1-0 down. When you’re 1-0 down you have to chase the game and sometimes you want it so much - especially when you control the game like we did on Saturday. We had 60 penalty area entries on Saturday and Manchester United had 17 so we were always forward. The risk you have when you have to chase a goal is that you get caught on the break. Here we were in a different tactical situation.

on 11 consecutive knockout qualifications…
When you work in a football club you will realise that it’s not easy to have a continuity and to be consistent. I am very proud of that and I think the club also deserves a lot of credit for that. It’s not enough because we want more than that but we are consistent.

on whether people take it for granted…
I don’t know. I don’t try anymore to think what people think. What is important is that we are united. As I told you yesterday, this team has a top-quality attitude and we have shown after the disappointment on Saturday that we were united in the game, determined, committed and after that people take what they like or don’t like - we have to accept that. What’s important is what we do inside the club.

on the injuries…
The injury situation is a problem because we have many games and we lost two players tonight. The first one is Mikel Arteta who has another calf problem and that looks quite serious. We also lost Yaya Sanogo to a hamstring problem.

on Jack Wilshere…
Wilshere sees a specialist tomorrow. We’ll know more tomorrow night.

on whether Wilshere will need an operation…
I don't know, the specialist will decide that.

on Yaya Sanogo…
I think he played well. I decided tonight to got a bit longer from the start and he protected the ball well and won many challenges. He's a young boy but he he has presence, character and he's naturally committed. He has a natural, aggressive attitude up front that is vital and very important.

on improving to make an impact in the last 16…
First to send a different guy for the draw. If you look at the last five or six years we got the teams we didn't want. From now until February we need to improve as a team, get encouragement from tonight's game and then hope we have nearly all our players back in the next round. You see who is qualified around Europe and there are many teams who are at the top, top level. There are three or four teams you don't want to play.

on the approach for the last game…
It will depend a bit on what happens in the next few games. I will try to win the last game and you never know. If Anderlecht win in Dortmund and we don't win in Galatasaray you will say we were stupid. It's unlikely, let's say it's 90 per cent that we will finish second and Dortmund will finish first.