on the result…
Villa were dangerous but first I must say two things. We had two difficult away games where we had to give absolutely everything just over Christmas, physically. In the first half we controlled the game quite well and in the second half when they came back to 1-1 we had quite a difficult period. Then we stabilised the game and in the last 15 minutes you could feel we were on top again.
I can only congratulate Villa - they played well, gave everything and again it was a very intense game. In the end we got three very late points that are vital for us. We were a bit unlucky on Sunday and today maybe a bit lucky. Overall it was important to re-start with a win tonight. But if Villa continue to play like that then they will go up in the table, they had an outstanding game.
on the team spirit…
Our spirit is exceptional and that's why we came from a bad start to the season to such a strong run. You could see that some legs were a bit jaded from Sunday, and some minds in the speed of the decision making. But we still kept going and there is an exceptional attitude and spirit in the side.
Tonight, very unusually for us we scored from two set-pieces, that is basically historical!
on Robin van Persie…
He keeps going. Of course you always have that question when he plays against Manchester City and then again with that intensity, do I rest him? At the moment he feels alright so I just take a gamble. Now we have a little breather to prepare for our home game and let's hope we can win then.
We have to give credit to Villa tonight, we know they always give us a good reception here. They always make it very difficult for us.
on approaching Alan Shearer's record…
Now I will start to rest him!
on his booking...
My press officer told me it was a penalty. He is very objective, believe me! From outside I must say it didn't look like a penalty but maybe he has been touched, I don't know. It didn't look like a penalty to me. I don't know [if he was disappointed], I haven't spoken to him about it.
on Yossi Benayoun…
We have him on loan until the end of the season so we do not need to decide [on a permanent transfer] tonight.
on Kieran Gibbs' injury…
Gibbs sees a specialist tomorrow, he had a setback. We will know more about it tomorrow morning.
on going into the market…
Frankly I don't know yet, it depends on what happens to Gibbs. Vermaelen does quite well at left back, it is not the position where he feels happiest but he does it with a good spirit. On the right side tonight I played a midfielder [Francis Coquelin], who I feel has done quite well.
Source: Arsenal.com on 21 Dec 11
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