Wenger: Returning players 'gave us technical stability'

Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea
Barclays Premier League
Emirates Stadium



On a good response...
"We lost at Middlesbrough and it's always important not to have another defeat, especially at home in a big game because that means straight away the confidence drops. For us it's important today to get the three points."

On the balance of the game...
"In the first half it was a bit locked, tactically, and the goal of William Gallas opened the game up and changed the game. In the second half Chelsea have thrown everything forward and on the counter-attacks we had four, fives times the opportunity to score. As long as you didn't do that, of course, you are under the threat of Chelsea scoring, which nearly happened especially I believe with Wright-Phillips and the header from Schevchenko. But overall I still feel the three points were deserved and reflect the great spirit in the side."


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On the Arsenal captain...
"I feel he pops up when you need it, when you want it, and he's the leader - that's the best definition of a leader, when you need it you show the example and he did that in the last second against Man United. It shows that he is a winner because, I'm not sure if I would have jumped behind Cech because I would have thought he takes the ball, you know? And that's a real striker, they believe if a mistake happens they are there. I believe as well that Arsenal is a special club where it takes sometimes a few months to be penetrated by the spirit of the Club. I think William this season has taken that completely on board, and he's completely the leader because he represents how we want to behave."

On the title race...
"Maybe Liverpool had the biggest disappointment of the day because they played at home, and they have already dropped points at home, but they are not out of it. Nor is Chelsea because they have shown again today they have the quality. I think the spirit in the side is absolutely amazing, not everybody was at his best today because many came back from injury, they have not played for three weeks some of them. Still, it gave us a technical stability that is completely different, you know? We are confident, the confidence is there, the belief is there, I personally prefer that it remains a four horse race because it is more interesting. It makes a day like today a lot for the Premier League and, as long as it is four teams involved in it I believe that the interest for the championship is even bigger."

On facing a physical challenge...
"I believe that is where we have improved the most, be effecient, not be dominated in the fight, today we have shown great character in the fight as well. In duels, in the one-against-one, overall we were dominant on that front - it was not the case usually."

On some close decisions...
"Some were easy ones, at the first look. I believe as well the goal of Adebayor was a soft free-kick against us because I did not see a lot wrong. "

On the injury to Eboue...
"Eboue has a knee-ligament strain and we'll see how he responds in the next forty-eight hours."