That’s what you get with Blackpool and with a team [that is] fighting against relegation. I knew that, at 2-0, they would not give up. We missed some chances in the first half and, at 2-1, we had a little nervy period. Making it 3-1 killed the game because they had given a lot.
on Jens Lehmann’s late inclusion…
I was not concerned because I replaced a good goalkeeper with a good goalkeeper. The only concern was not having a goalkeeper on the bench anymore. If something had happened to Jens, because he had not played for a long time, we would have had a problem.
on whether he feared the worst when Lehmann brought down DJ Campbell…
Yes. That was the important split-second of the game. I felt Jens played the ball, even if [the referee] gives a penalty he can give a yellow card because he tried to intercept the ball.
on the Arsenal performance…
I think it was a good performance because we had a good response to the flat game last Sunday. What people forget is that we are on a long unbeaten run, even if we had not won recently. But it was important to get a win again and we now have to go from game to game.
on Lehmann’s 90 minutes…
He did well. His decision-making was spot on. In fairness, he didn’t have a lot to do because we controlled the game quite well. He is commanding and his authority helped us on set-pieces.
on Almunia’s injury…
He has a knee problem, we have to assess that. I don’t know [whether he will be ready for the next game]. We have [Wojciech] Szczesny who is not far away.
on maintaining intensity for the remainder of the season…
I think we can maintain this intensity. We now have a rest, then we play on Sunday and then Tottenham the Wednesday after. We know that we have to give 100 per cent in every game.
on what Lehmann said after the game…
I have not spoken to him yet.
on responding to Champions League and FA Cup disappointments…
We went through a period of grief and then we had to stand up and show we had the mental strength to respond. The team has done that remarkably well.
on the Premier League title race…
Today, only three points would help us keep our chances [alive]. We have promised ourselves to give everything until the end of the season. There are still seven games left and that is a long time.
Source: Arsenal.com on 10 Apr 11
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