Arsene Wenger hailed his side’s battling spirit after two late goals from Nacho Monreal, his first for the club, and Gervinho sealed a deserved 2-0 win over Michael Laudrup’s Swansea.
The three points helped the Gunners leapfrog Everton, who beat Manchester City earlier, into fifth and closed the gap on fourth place Chelsea to two points with Spurs only a further two points ahead.
Speaking after the match, the boss spoke with pride at the way his side had won two games and kept two clean sheets inside a week. “We know on the fixtures that this was one of the difficult games we had still to play,” Wenger told Sky Sports.
“But we really wanted the win today and we kept going. The fact that our left-back scored the goal inside the box shows that we had the spirit, the desire and are up for the fight.
“I’m very proud of the players because they have given a lot at Bayern Munich on Wednesday, come home, travelled straight away and won again away from home. It’s never easy to do that.
“Winning a big game like that (against Bayern), of course, improves your confidence even if it is a frustration to go out. We were up for a battle in Munich and it certainly helped.”
The introduction of both Aaron Ramsey and Gervinho with twenty minutes to go certainly gave the Gunners a little more impetus in the final third, not something that has always been the case this season. Reflecting on the impact of the duo, the boss continued: “They had a good impact because we were starting to become a little bit tired. “But overall I think the team just kept going. I think it was the team that really wanted it today that have won the game.
“We’ve not always had that belief that you need at this level but the players were determined to give absolutely everything.”
The ball is now firmly in the court of our rivals as another Interlull arrives with all the timeliness of a bout of bubonic plague. Let’s hope the momentum we now have is maintained at the end of the month when relegation-fodder Reading arrive at the Emirates for the first home game in 35 days.
Solid performance. Nice revenge too for earlier this season. On to Reading now!
So impressed with Cazorla, he has that it factor about him such that when he gets the ball you immediately know something awesome is about to happen.
I love him. He’s just one step ahead all the time. For Nacho’s goal he dragged the entire Swansea defence over to the left, meaning we were queuing up at the back post on the right with Giroud and Ramsey. Admittedly we didn’t score directly (thanks to Giroud) but it was Santi’s balance and composure that created the opportunity. Absolute class.
I just wish we had an assured, out and out
goalscorer up front. Theo is not the answer,neither is Giroud, who’s real strength seems to be winning the ball in the air and perhaps the one offs’ superb interplay. We need somebody with presence and real menace up front. At the moment one never knows where a goal is going to come from. GREAT win though.
Podolski.
Poldi = Weapon of Mass Destruction. I hope his ankle heals. I hope he is given a shot as Central Striker.
seems as if Giroud is almost too Arsenally. Don’t think I’ve ever seen him swivel and shoot. If his back is towards goal he passes. Someone is in front of him, he passes. Only time he doesn’t pass is when he has a clearcut-and by clear cut, i mean diamond chiseled-chance or he wants to try a spectacular volley. Weird guy but he gets some kind of job done. I dont think its the right job though
You are on point to a certain extent. You don’t see his name on the shot @ goal list d@ often (probly has more assist). Of coz it doesn’t help that theo ‘twat’ walcott won’t stop sharing his spot with him.
To be fair to GIroud he doesnt get many quality balls to challenge for in the penalty area. I think thats where he’s at his best; in and around the 6 yd area.
Giroud gets the same balls as Van Shit got last year, but unfortunately Giroud doesn’t have the same class to finish things off and on top of that he makes way to many error passes. Though it was nice with his early goal against Bayern.
Yep I have the same feeling too, about him being too “Arsenally”. He’s a hardworking fella no doubt always around the place, trying to win every aerial ball e.t.c but no where near clinical enough or just your usual menacing forward and we need that for next season if we’re to challenge. We needs to buy one clinical striker with great pace and play him alongside giroud (when neccesary), one that can be on the end of those knock-downs, interplay from giroud only this time finishing them off!
Superb result! Confidence is such and amazing phenomenon. I’ve got a feeling we’re gonna go on something of a run now. Here’s hoping that and also for a Spu*s and Chelsk meltdown. Spu*s have lost their last 2 games, so hey, maybe it’s already started. Fingers crossed.
Ye I agree we need a World Class Centre Forward n a bit of strengthening up around the squad and we won’t be far away. Lewondowski , Gotze, Jovetic, Williams, Samba, Wanyama ? 2 or 3 of those n we would be very strong again
What about Maradona and Pele, don’t forget them!
In arsene we trust
I hope:
1. Wenger stays.
2. No one leaves(other than Bendtner,
Denilson or Chamakh).
3. We do something significant in the transfer market.
Man United just beat Reading and go 15 points clear. Van Persie made the right move going to a club who win trophies. Same with Song as Barca will win the La Liga. They know Arsenal is a no trophy side so they moved.
All we can do is celebrate 3rd or fourth in the league. Lame.
Have you actually seen van persie and song recently hater? Van persie’s put on so much weight he now has bigger tits then my girlfriend, and song is celebrating when he makes the bench. the fact that you had to come on here and say that proves you’re a worried little spud.
I forgot to mention that gervinho has scored more goals than him in the past nine games.
The Van Persie situation at United is now looking really interesting. He started the season brilliantly, and was great over the first five months, but now he’s looking and playing like utter shit. He has been anonymous in recent games and hasn’t scored for eight matches.
We all thought that he would get injured, but instead he has completely lost form. I wonder if Ferguson will have the bottle to drop him.
“No trophy side” you say?
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/203/d/f/arsenal_trophy_list___forward___by_anverster-d419w0m.jpg
Awesome! Thanks for posting that. It made my already fantastic mood even brighter. COYG!
I envy song. gets paid to sit in the best seats in the house whenever barca plays!
To be fair he has to sell ice cream on the beech/clean the toilets/be the mascot most of the time, the other good things are long conversations with fabregas on the bench, messi signing his shirt every time he tries to start a conversation, and his picture is on the wall of ‘greatest’ ever signings with Hleb, Van Bronkhurst and Overmars.
Overmars…. broke my heart when he left, then Pires came and mended it……. Oh yeah Song is a prick!
Fair or not, Song is universally regarded as a complete flop among Barca supporters. At Arsenal, in my opinion, he had too many lapses as a dedicated DM and was too inefficient as playmaker. Arsenal sold him at peak value.
Couldn’t agree more, starting to think that his ability to foul was under-rated but aside from that we’re better off without him, need someone else with a bit of strength and power in that midfield though (I still don’t trust Diaby’s ankle).
who is this guy?
complain to one of your spud mates please. instead of posting that scripted nonsense.
ta
“All we can do is celebrate 3rd or fourth in the league. Lame.”
You are not one of us, so how about shut up? Thanks.
Just realized ManU will probably have won the league by the time we play them, should make it a little bit easier.
With City just 9 points ahead 2nd place is not impossible, although City must beat spurs.
We’ll make that top four and come back stronger next year hopefully, the spirit is starting to get there, good signs! Cazorla is really on form as well, and Chambo had a great game. All is positive right now.
Noo… Don’t do that. We have said this season after season. “One more signing and we’re there”…”The team has gelled, nw its time to start winning”. And then something happens and its back to the drawing board.
Please, please don’t JINX it.
We really wanted the win…really needed it more like. COYG every year they get close and every year they crumble
Wish wenger would be this ruthless from the beginning of the season. He always seem too soft with the players and they in turn take their position for granted.
Drop whoever is playing like shit and give. Someone else a chance and before long everybody is performing @ their best. I feel that’s what giroud needs too. Try rotating him with podolski, or get a proven goal scorer plsss…
Oh yeah, we’d definitely have won if we hadn’t put those two idiots today?
I mean, they did nothing, right? Ramsey is useless, and probably couldn’t make an assist for anyone. And Gervinho hasn’t scored in sooo long
right?
muppet.
whoops. sorry deji, this was meant for “BEST IN THE WORLD”, the comment right under yours. apologies!
The introduction of both Aaron Ramsey and Gervinho with twenty minutes to go certainly gave the Gunners a little more impetus in the final third
————————————————–
Something is very wrong with the world today
Ramsey was great yet again today.
maybe time to refresh your stereo types.
Yep, since moving deeper he’s been fantastic.
I think Gervinho still has to convince most people, a few more finishes like that though…
Bingo Bongo you are stuttering right!
bingo bongo!
something is very wrong with you in fact
Diaby isn’t really good enough or maybe our playing style does not suit him. Ramsey and coq are much better at pressing than him. Well done to the back5 santi, ox rams and gerv. Hope the ox’s fine form serves as a wake up call for theo.
he’s a bit of a luxury player.. as in, others around him have to work harder for him to be at his best.
he strolls as much as zlatan and berba when we don’t have the ball, which I find insulting as a fan.
i can’t see him ever playing as one of the two pivots. especially since the other contenders always put in high energy shifts and look like they actually give a fuck.
Couldn’t really understand the hype around him. Was rather too easily displaced from the starting 11 by a 19yr old jack for my liking. He might be effective in a lge like seria.
I thought he was solid today, a little rusty but he charged forward and created some nice space with his running, the physicality came in useful too.
Still a little inconsistent but when you’ve got an ankle held together by blu-tak it’s tough to get going, I don’t think we can afford to carry him much longer without a back-up ‘shithouse’ though.
The stats show that he might not have been as bad he looked today, but for me it was positioning and passing that was really off, you could see the Gunners around him getting frustrated and yelling at him to get into positions for passes, think Arteta had a few words with him late in the first half too. And his passing was weak, hence the interceptions in the first half. Improved a bit in the second half, made that good run, but afterwards Ramsey came on for Diaby and showed him how it’s done.
Itsup4grabsnow
March 16, 2013 at 7:31 pm
“We really wanted the win…really needed it more like. COYG every year they get close and every year they crumble.”
This is what I am saying we are all excited about beating Spurs. Winning the North London trophy is the only trophy Arsenal ever wins . Oh I think we one the 30 minute games trophy pre season at Southampton. Lame.
“Winning the North London trophy is the only trophy Arsenal ever wins”. Tell me: how many times has your team Spuds finished above us in last 20 years? And yet you’d have thought they’d won the World Club Cup last week, I thought there was gonna be a parade along Tottenham High St. Mugs!
This is what I think is the problem. How can we be comparing ourselves with the spuds, that team is a big bowl of crap for GOD’s sake. We need to recognize that we’ve already won that war on look for something bigger. (Madrid can’t stop trying to improve bcoz of barca nt At. Madrid)
Get in! Good to see gervinho get a goal. That should boost his confidence
Nice to see that muppet Rodgers open his gob re the mickeys finishing top four… Every time he spouts off they drop points…. Well played today boys, crucial 3 points…. Liverpool are shit, we ain’t….
That Ramsey and Gervinho had such an impact is telling. They both get a kicking on here (and I usually agree). But credit to them, and credit to the boss for sticking to his plan. Bring on Reading!
Enuff of Ramsey and Gervinho hate. Ramsey is my hero. And Gerv, all credit to him for being very composed and calm when the situation was dire and critical, this is not the same Gervinho we saw few months back, who squandered opportunities after opportunities. His shots are meaningful now, very rarely off target. Proper Gooners them. And ohhh, I Love Jenks too 🙂
Honestly I think that Ramsey is one of the most admirable sportsmen I know of, he’s got oodles of class, strength and talent. Rare to see in someone so young and to have had so much success as well as hardship (leg break and suicide of his mentor) so early on in his career.
I cannot stand Walcott. The schoolboy. Is that okey?
Great to see cazorla where he belongs and starting our moves.
Ox looked super confident. He was lacking it for quite sometime now. He deserved a goal at least.
And the defense! Just yeah!