Arsene Wenger accepts that his side looked nervous in the second half of their tight 2-1 win over Leicester City and believes Nigel Pearson’s squad have demonstrated enough to convince him they can stay up.
The Gunners score twice in the first half thanks to decisive finishes by Laurent Koscielny and Theo Walcott decisive before the Premier League’s bottom side hit back through Andrej Kramaric.
Speaking to the BBC after the game, Wenger reflected: “We had some good moments in the game and a good spirit. We dropped in the second half and became a bit nervous.
“I’m surprised this team [Leicester] is bottom of the league. I knew that before the game. If they can keep believing in what they are doing I think they will get out.”
Koscielny, who opened the scoring on 27 minutes with a first time strike from a Mesut Ozil corner, admitted that the Gunners had found the Foxes tough opponents.
“They played well [in the second half] with a different system, they have some good quality players up front but we stayed strong, we conceded some opportunities but our players fought to keep the three points with us.
“After the defeat against Tottenham it was very important to win this game. It was a hard game with a difficult period but we stayed strong and the three points are important.”
The vital three points moves Arsenal temporarily up to fourth place in the table, equal on points with Southampton and one ahead of Manchester United. Both sides play tomorrow against West Ham and Burnley respectively.
Analysing the race for the Champions League places, Koscielny told Arsenal Player: “I think it will be [tight], I think you can see every year the teams are getting better, who would have thought Southampton would be right up there, considering the players that left this season.
“I think it’s going to go all the way, that’s why it was so crucial to bounce back. The performance wasn’t there but the three points was all we were determined to achieve.
“We’ll focus on the FA Cup now. There will be a lot of disappointed guys in the changing room even though we’ve won. But that’s why the games come thick and fast.”
I want Alexis to bounce back from yesterday’s unfortunate knock.
Yes and not in an Alan Partridge way either
If the guys are disappointed by a 2-1 win, that means the standard they have set for themselves is high.
Again, I think the regret isn’t the scoreline but how we got there. If we had dominated the match, scored two good goals, and allowed in one unlucky fluke then the mood would be different.
Its good to know that our players feel ‘disappointed after a scrappy win. But we needed it, and we got it. If we can refine our play while grinding the results we need, it’s all good…
The worst man to engage in a battle is a man whose back is against the wall and is staring death in the face…they can pull surprises. So glad we came away with the points.
It was Walcott who gave that last quote, not Kosc!
Without Giroud leading the line we look lost up front. No ball retention, no one to aim the goal kicks at and hold -up play not good enough. Giroud adds balance and much needed physicality to the side. Despite his fine form the past few weeks, he’s still very under-rated
I agree. I am not a fan of Sanchez leading the line. I wonder why Giroud and Welbeck were both rested, I think one of them should have started up top.
A very scrappy game. Agree Giroud (or Welbeck) should have started. Why do we persist with Theo though – his goal was fortunate and he choked yet again on a clear opportunity. Bellerein was yet again left exposed by his inability to assist defensively. At 17/18 Theo’s endearing personality and electric pace pointed to a great future. He hasn’t and probably isn’t going to fulfil that potential and maybe time to let him move on.
The Theo bashing on this and pther arsenal blogs needs to stop. He is just back from an injury. And he is still scoring goals. One of which helped us get three points yesterday. i don’t know about you but i like goals…and 3 points. selling him would be a bad idea…having him work on his weaknesses makes more sense. Because we already all know how beneficial his strengths are to the team.
We played a very odd formation most of the game yesterday which left a whole in the centre forward position most the game, midfield players were busting forward with nowhere to play the ball other than coming out wide to areas of less threat. Theo seemed to be caught between the right hand edge of the box and the right wing not knowing which to play. Much the same as before his injury Arsene is asking an awful lot of him to make more players available on the left hand side. If you were at the game and sit where… Read more »
Great win. Every team is dangerous now especially the bottom ones fighting for survival. last week Man City were held by Hull city, just to illustrate how dangerous these so called bottom teams are going to be in this second half of the season. We have ”winnable” games coming up but they will not be easy games. We just have to keep on winning. Giroud is top class number 9, good point man but sometimes he slows down our counter attacks. It is no coincidence that the Foxes became more dangerous when Sanchez got injured and Giroud came in. However… Read more »
He is the best finisher we have at the moment. He’ll regain that killer instinct the more he plays.
a lot of talk about walcott being ineffective for majority of the game.. i felt that he was decent. people always tend to miss out on what he is doing. sometimes even the opponents. much of his work is runs behind the defence and moving around the causing the opponent s defence to shift. comparisons between walcott and podolski are not valid as the german didn’t run off the ball as well. we are loading the midfield with excellent passers and walcott s movement can create far more chances than his passing can. so it actually benefits to have a… Read more »
Well said
Someone commented on Ospina’s twitchiness and laid some criticism on him. (on the match report)
I LOVE Ospina’s clearances. They nearly always find the man and we won (almost) 100% of his clearances from the clearance or the second ball.
The Leicester idiot who rugby tackled him from behind as he was about to throw a clearance should have been sent off, in fact Leicester should have finished the game with about 5 players on the pitch. Stupid referee.
Glad to know some of the lads are not happy with their performances even though we won. At least, it shows the hunger to perform better is there. I must say i was very pissed when Ramsey came out after the game against manchester united to say the team had a wonderful game. I’d rather have us play the way we did against Leicester or man city with 3points than have possession all game and end up with nothing.
And who says the highest we can aim for is 3rd? 2nd spot is still up for grabs.. COYG
Leicester are worse than stoke. A guy literally did a rugby challenge on Ozil while he didn’t even had the ball.
after the villa game i thought walcott, ozil and giroud really complimented each other. walcott’s pace ensures that giroud isn’t crouded out by defenders because they know if giroud wins the ball he’s releasing walcott or ozil in behind. we didn’t see that in saturday’s game because our midfield and defense weren’t able to get the ball to giroud. i agree that we missed him yesterday.
I think part of the reason Walcott wasn’t involved is because no-one in the midfield was seeing his runs. I can’t count how many times I saw him racing into space with a clear passing lane available, and whoever had the ball completely ignored him and passed it sideways or backwards instead.