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'We have created momentum'

Arsenal went to the top of the Premier League table after beating Stoke 3-1, and the manager was very satisfied after watching his side record their third win in eight days.

Arsène Wenger spoke to the media after the game, and spoke about the importance of the win, going top, and the improvement from last season.

Read below to find out what he had to say:

on working hard for the win…
Of course. We expected that. In the last nine games Stoke has lost one, in the last four away games they didn’t lose - including Man United. They had a convincing win at Watford. We have given a lot in the last few days at West Ham and at Basel. So we had a hesitant start, but again we found the resources being 1-0 down to win the game. And we have now had three penalties against us at home and not one of them was convincing. Despite that we came back and won the game.

on a winning week and his team’s resolve…
(The aim was) not to get my frustration into the game and to keep our nerves and our composure, that’s what we did. We kept passing the ball and we didn’t panic, linked with the fact that we had some positive results for a while now and we have created a momentum that gives us strength to believe in our game.

on the team's backbone compared to previous years…
Look, we were not too bad last year. We finished second in the league. I believe we have improved, yes. But we have to show that on a longer term. I believe that we have created confidence, I think we are ambitious - but what is at stake is to keep urgency levels very high, humility levels very high and togetherness very high. We have to show that in every single game now. Then we will see where we stand.

on going top…
It’s good. But let’s wait until tomorrow. At the minute there is no difference anyway with the other teams, there is Leicester v Man City, there is Chelsea v West Brom tomorrow. But we are in there. No matter what the results will be. So that’s good - we are in the fight.

on the psychological benefits of being top…
Psychologically it is difficult to win when you have to win, when everybody expects you to win. I believe that we want to build a momentum and when everyone expects you to win the game, you want to win it. Especially at home. When you analyse last year, last season at home we did very well against the top five and we dropped points at home against teams in mid-table. Certainly that is our challenge this year, to continue to do well against the top teams but as well in these kind of games, like Stoke today, where you have to win and we dropped some points last year.

 

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