Wenger's reaction to the Leyton Orient 1-1 Arsenal match

On being in control before the late equaliser…
That’s what football is about. I believe we have played the game with the right attitude and I cannot fault our fighting spirit. You have to give credit to Leyton Orient. They never gave up and, as long as you don’t score the second goal, these kind of things can happen. It is a disappointment of course but we are still in the competition and the most important thing is that we go through, that’s what the Cup is all about. Today you had fighting spirit against a team who were technically superior, but in a Cup game fighting spirit has a chance.

On Andrey Arshavin’s performance…
He is coming back into form. What is missing is a goal to get completely back to full confidence. But he is lively and dangerous.

On having a large squad to cope with a replay…
We [even] left a few players at home [today]. It’s just sometimes, mentally, a breather would not be bad. Since the beginning of December we have played every three days. Sometimes, to give a week where we can give a breather to the players would not be bad. You have to give credit to Leyton Orient today. You could feel that it was about scoring the second goal or not making a defensive mistake and they took advantage of it.

On knowing about drawing Manchester United before the game…
Somebody told me just before the game started. It’s an exciting and an interesting draw. Today we have [had] a good warning that against Leyton Orient at home it will be a difficult game. They didn’t drop physically, they kept their shape, fought very hard and it was a difficult game for us.

On playing after the Sixth Round draw was made…
It’s the television who dictates the rules. That would not be an excuse for us to draw today, I just think Leyton Orient played a great game. We had quite a good game but we couldn’t finish them off.

On Jonathan Tehoue…
No, I don’t know him. I saw him when he came on, I have never heard of him before! If they did not start him maybe they had a plan to defend up front with Revell. But when he came on they went to a more 4-4-2 shape. Of course they had the chance before when Squillaci was hit on the head and they looked dangerous whenever we lost the ball in the final 20 minutes.

Source: Arsenal.com on 20 Feb 11