Saturday, January 9, 2010

Wenger relieved to salvage draw

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Wenger praises Everton display

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was relieved to snatch a point with a 2-2 draw against Everton but admitted his players were not at their best.

After watching the Gunners equalise in injury-time, Wenger said: "It is two points dropped in the title race, but in this game it was one point gained.

"Everton played very well, while we were off the pace. Our passing was too slow and not incisive enough.

"It was closer to 3-1 than 2-2 at times but we showed spirit to come back."

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Arsenal twice came from behind but will rue the fact that they did not take maximum points to pressurise title rivals Chelsea and Manchester United.

Wenger blamed a "sloppy start" but also gave credit to Everton for their performance.

He said: "We had some problems managing Everton, they played very well and all credit to them.

"We could not get them out of position, they defended well and counter-attacked well.

"We started slowly and Everton closed us down us high up the pitch, we lost confidence after that and we did not have enough creative quality today.

Moyes hails 'fantastic' Everton

"But we had a fighting attitude and the spirit to come back - my players have again showed outstanding attitude.

"It is disappointing because we went into this game intending to win it but overall it is a good point today considering our performance."

Everton manager David Moyes was left frustrated that his side did not take all three points from the match, which was one of only two top-flight games to survive the big freeze.

He said: "We are really disappointed that we didn't win it because we deserved to.

"After the first game of the season, when they beat us 6-1, we wanted to show that wasn't really us and I thought we were a lot more like ourselves today."

Moyes was particularly pleased with new signing Landon Donovan, who made his debut and caused Arsenal plenty of problems.

"He did really well and I hoped I could have kept him on longer because he was a real problem to them," Moyes added. "I think he cramped up at the end, probably because of the cold, but for 60 minutes he was very good.

"Maybe we should play in those freezing conditions every week because we played the way we wanted to play.

Donovan enjoyed 'fun' debut

"We had some really good chances - better chances than Arsenal.

"We came here and had a lot of possession and we deserved more than a point - but we'll take it and try to build on it.

"We were still without nine injured players today, when we get them back we will be coming to places like this and not only drawing but coming here to win the games."

Wenger, too, is not without injury problems and he may have another casualty to add to the list after midfielder Denilson collapsed with no-one around him and was forced off with six minutes remaining.

Wenger said: "It looks to be a rib problem rather than a back problem but we have to assess it - there's not much I can say right now."

ะพ 8:35 AM

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