Arsène Wenger admitted he could not recall a better start by a player to life at Arsenal after Alexis Sánchez rescued them again with a last-gasp winner against Southampton.
Sánchez spared Wenger more awkward questions on Wednesday night by pouncing in the 89th minute at the Emirates Stadium to move them within two points of the Premier League top four.
The goal was the Chilean's 14th since his £30 million summer move from Barcelona, with many of them having proven crucial.
Wenger said: "He was one of the players who had to dig deep today. But he still had such a desire to fight that he always finds something special to get the goal.
"It's difficult to find examples of people who have settled so quickly. My memory is not perfect but quicker you cannot anyway.
"We are in December, he arrived in July. And when you look at the number of goals and the impact that he has in the team, it's fabulous."
Wenger also admitted the "physical presence" of substitute Olivier Giroud was crucial to Arsenal's victory, which in reality owed more to Southampton's failure to finish the game with 11 men. Having already made his three substitutions -two of them enforced - manager Ronald Koeman was left to rue the "unlucky" loss of defender Toby Alderweireld in the crucial closing moments. He said: "Eleven against 11 against Arsenal is difficult. But 11 against 10 is more difficult."
Koeman put the spate of injuries down to the rigours of the season on his small squad.
"A lot of players have hamstring problems because that's about the number of games that they have to play," he said. "Southampton or even other teams, we don't have the number of players that Arsenal have.
"If you see what they have on the tribune and on the bench, we don't have that. And that's the problem for the little bit lower teams with this schedule of games in December."
Revealing his wish to add reinforcements in the January transfer window, he added: "We are looking and, of course, with these kinds of injuries maybe we have to do something."
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét