Press conference

Wenger - Wilshere and Alexis responded well

Arsène Wenger believes our victory over Crystal Palace was based on a team performance, but he also had time to praise two of our star performers.

Alexis scored his first brace of the season - the second set up by a fine Jack Wilshere pass - and the boss is pleased to see full commitment from the pair, who are both in the final year of their contracts.

on the performance…

Overall I think it was a very good, positive performance. We were fluid going forward and controlled the game well. At half-time it was 1-0, but it should have been more and then of course at some stage the home team who fights against relegation will come at you, and we started well in the second half in the first five minutes. I thought we had two good chances and after it was just down to 1-1, then we showed resources and character, were leading 3-1 and controlled the game quite well, but at 3-2 we became quite nervy again and we finished in a bit of a less controlled way, but overall it was a good team performance.

on Jack Wilshere and Alexis…

They are always questioned – people when they don't have long contracts – but the best way to show that they are committed is to deliver that kind of performance. For Jack I think we spoke about him recently, he’s coming back in a good competitive shape and I feel that he gives something to the team at the moment that is very interesting. On top of that today he gave a great final ball that you want from him.

on whether Alexis went to Paris over Christmas…

That’s true. We had two days off on the 24th and 25th that was public, but he did not go to Chile. He met his family somewhere but not in Chile.

on Wilshere’s contract…

The situation is that we will sit down with him. The beginning of January it’s planned.

on whether there has been a delay…

There is no delay, I said we would sort out the situation in December at the end. I told him that we want to meet and sit down with him to talk about the future. That’s what I did, but now we play today, Sunday and Wednesday, so at the moment the focus has to be on the game. At the beginning of January we will [sit down].

on Alexis’ performance…

I felt he was very good tonight, from the first minute on he was focused, he was simple again. This kind of Alexis is a good player, we know him and that’s the kind of performance you want from him.

on Alexis’ long-term commitment…

First of all nobody knows what will happen and it’s always difficult to speculate. At the moment we are focused on the short term, the short term is win the next game with the players who are committed and ready to fight. It’s not a guarantee how long you will stay somewhere – as long you are somewhere you give your best.