Arsene Wenger spoke to the media after the Everton game. Below is a transcript of the press conference:
on the performance…
My first answer is that we should have won the game. The second, it keeps us still in a strong position in the race for the top four. Basically, the game was very intense physically. I felt that in the first half the referee didn't deal at all well with the intimidating physical challenges, but that we responded well to the physicality. We had fantastic commitment. It was detrimental a little to the fluency of our game, but we kept going and had good concentration. The regret I have is that we had the chances to score. Maybe we used power instead of technique too much in our finishing. And, the second regret I have is that with the number of set-pieces we had at home, there has to be a goal. Apart from that, I can only congratulate the team for the spirit and commitment.
"The regret I have is that we had the chances to score. Maybe we used power instead of technique too much in our finishing"
on Darron Gibson's challenges...
Yes [he should have been sent off]. I never speak to the referee. I don't know why [he wasn't], honestly. He should have had a yellow card already before the first one.
on Everton's tackling...
That's part of the game. We had to deal with that and the referee has to make the right decisions. Apart from that, it was a game of huge intensity, a fight for both teams. You have to respect the effort Everton put in. They decided to make it very physical for us to disturb our game and sometimes went a little bit over the edge, but the referee had to make the right decision. I don't blame Everton for that. 'Protecting' is a big word, but they have to make the right decisions.
on having chances to win...
I do not want to comment on every decision of the referee. Despite all that, we had the chances to win the game. We can only look at ourselves and next time try and take our chances. We are on a very strong run with a fantastic run so we do not want to complain too much about what didn't go for us. Let's look at ourselves, come back in the next game and win it.
on where it leaves them…
We have 60 points and I believe, against Everton, we dropped two. But if we win our coming games we'll get there. The other teams have 58 with a game in hand but they play each other. We just don't want to depend on the results of the other teams. What is the most important thing is to win our next game. My belief was always strong and still is. I'm confident we'll do it. The best way is to put the same effort into the next game.
on Gibbs coming off...
He was tired. Just fatigue.
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