The win made it three victories in seven days for the Gunners after beating Watford 3-0 at Vicarage Road last Sunday before defeating Bayern Munich in the Champions League midweek.
Advertisement
The Toffees hunted for an equaliser, but came up short and suffered a blow in injury time when Gareth Barry was sent off for a second yellow card offence.
Wenger recalled Olivier Giroud to lead the Arsenal attack for the first time in a month and was rewarded as the French forward continued his run of goals against Everton, heading the opener in the 36th minute. “I think we played with the right focus and desire”, Wenger is quoted as saying on Arsenal’s official site.
The striker got his first league start since the end of August in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Everton on Saturday. It is not easy.
Wenger admitted he did not expect Arsenal to be at the head of the table at this stage following their poor start.
“I thought after ten games, no, honestly”.
Over the previous year or two the Gunners have become a lot better at defending set pieces, partly I think because our individual players and the team in general is better now and partly because of the influence of our assistant manager Steve Bould has on the training ground.
“I missed one but there were other chances as well and it’s disappointing we weren’t clinical enough”. “If we need a player to hold it up, we’ve got Giroud”.
The Gunners delivered a strong message of intent by grinding out victory over Everton, but Giroud’s insight into the determination within the dressing room was just as telling. That’s why I’m very proud of my team because they’ve shown the ability to refocus.
“The season is very long, it is very demanding”. “We saw the results earlier in the day and we knew if we won, we’d go top”.
England defender Jagielka, meanwhile, will undergo tests to determine the extent of the damage.
“It will take 48 hours to find out but it is not good, clearly”.
Advertisement
It’s OK having the confidence of the manager, who tells you you can do it and backs you up in the press, but at a few point the players have to go out there and perform and that’s what they’re doing.
