“The players who have had the shirts recently are in the box seat because they have been performing and it’s up to them to continue with that”, Phelan said. Anger turned to relief as Jakupovic got down low to impressively save Sanchez’s penalty, with the goalkeeper earning more applause after preventing Ahmed Elmohamady from turning into his own goal.
Advertisement
“After the sending off, we’re up against one of the sides you don’t want to be playing against with ten men, but we still managed to build a little bit of momentum and stifled them a little bit”.
After a slow start, the Gunners eventually broke the deadlock in the 17th minute when Alex Iwobi volleyed home from close range.
‘I would prefer to be five points ahead, ‘ he added. He will play games and every week he is stronger. A loss would leave them with seven points from five games.
Mike Phelan’s side might have been comfortably outclassed by Arsenal here, but the scoreline perhaps flattered the visitors.
That goal was to be the catalyst for Arsenal to step through the gears again as Walcott forced another save from Jakupovic, before Sanchez put the game to bed with an Arsenal third.
It is not lost on the manager, who refused to blame the club’s home support, but acknowledged life on the road is good.
“We went away to Leicester and to Watford straightaway”.
He believes the aftershocks of the seismic opening day 4-3 defeat to Liverpool are still being felt in north London.
“Look, the positivity comes from us, from our attitude”, he said. Due to this game being up on us, I made a decision to leave it alone for now. Robert Snodgrass reduced the deficit late on when referee Roger East awarded a penalty, but Sanchez rifled home and substitute Granit Xhaka opened his account in stunning fashion as Arsenal became the first away side to win six competitive matches at the KCOM Stadium. He is not completely ready physically but today I felt in the second half he was much better than the first.
Wenger sees no reason why Iwobi can’t scale the heights his uncle Jay Jay Okocha did for Bolton. For me it’s about pairs as well who work together.
“The one thing we have now is a great squad”.
Phelan, 53, placed in temporary charge following Steve Bruce’s resignation in July, has yet to agree a deal to take the job on a permanent basis, but is now considering an offer and expects negotiations to resume next week.
Advertisement
‘My wife!’ the Lancastrian said.
