on whether he was relieved...
Yes because when you win with two minutes to go it is always a relief. We needed to be patient, intelligent and not make a mistake at the back against a West Ham team who had a strong spirit and were well-organised. We showed patience because in the first half it was difficult to get into the flow of our passing so we had to wait until they got a bit fatigued. West Ham kept going and we did as well. We kept the structure of our game right, we didn't do anything stupid, we kept trying to be intelligent and that in the end got us the goal with two minutes to go.
on a new dimension to Song's game...
He is [adding that to his game] because when you sum up his game today he had three good chances: the goal he scored, the one on his right boot and the header in the first half that touched the bar. He has got the taste to go forward, even if I think a little too much sometimes for a holding midfielder! But that is part of our game as well.
on whether he thought they might drop points...
The special moment I thought about that was when the ball hit the post and then bounced back into the goalkeeper's hands. That is usually not a good sign but even more so when Carlton Cole came on because you think that he has the ingredients when everybody else goes forward to score you a goal [on the break]. But we kept going and out of this game we can say we have once again shown a great attitude and we have matured. You can see that when it doesn't work for us the players remain calmer than before.
on being equipped to win the title...
I believe we have a good chance, yes, but we want to show consistency first. We go step by step. I believe we still need to step up a gear to completely achieve that. But on the other hand you feel as well that there is more to come out from this team because we had a good potential on the bench today and we still have some players to come back. So if we can keep a good injury record then we have a chance. It's too early in the season [to be sure] but I have belief. We have to show we can handle every single game with the different aspects that the Premier League has. You saw today that we played against the bottom team in the Premier League and it was a real battle. We have to show we can compete like that in every game.
on the return of Jack Wilshere and Denilson's form...
Denilson had three good games this week - he played the whole 90 minutes at Manchester City, the whole 90 minutes at Newcastle and he did quite well today because he defended very well at the moment everybody went forward. But Jack can play with Denilson, he can play with Song, I have good potential for rotation and don't forget we have Diaby who can come back too.
on keeping three straight clean sheets...
That's new, that's new for me! A day where I don't have to look on the television slow motion to see why we conceded a goal does not happen often so I am very happy with that.
on his concerns during the game...
You always have concerns because you would always like to finish teams off in ten minutes but football doesn't work like that.
on Cesc Fabregas' fitness...
He played a little bit within himself because he had a little tension in his hamstring. Let's hope he has no setback. I hope he will be alright [for Shakhtar]. At half time I had a hesitation to take him off but I left him on for ten minutes or 15 minutes and in the end he got better and better.
Source: Arsenal.com on 30 Oct 10
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