Watford vs. Arsenal – Football Match Report – August 27, 2016 – ESPN Having lost at home to Liverpool and drawn 0-0 at champions Leicester, Arsene Wenger saw his side dominate the first half at Vicarage Road, as an early Santi Cazorla penalty was added to by Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.
Advertisement
At Vicarage Road on Saturday, the Gunners raced into a three goal half time lead courtesy of Santi Cazorla from the penalty spot, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil with a flawless header on the stroke of half time.
Wenger, who looks certain to add Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi and Deportivo La Caruna striker Lucas Perez to his ranks in the coming days, likened Xhaka to a former Arsenal favourite and revealed the club had made a move for him past year.
Discussing his pursuit of Xhaka, Wenger added: “We tried [to sign him] in December past year”.
Speaking this weekend, Wenger said: “He is a guy who plays naturally behind the ball, he is a bit similar to Petit in the way he plays football”. They had an unbelievable season and there are a lot of French, like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira and some good centre backs like Kolo Toure in there.
Arsenal are not in action again until September 10 and Wenger is adamant his players are representing their respective nations too close to the start of the Premier League season.
It is more reassuring when a player has already played overseas somewhere. “Defensively we had a good game as well and I believe when everybody is on board physically for 90 minutes, we have a strong team”, the Arsenal manager explained.
“We have a game that is based on shorter passes than other teams so sometimes you have a player who can kick the longer ball gives us a chance to get some oxygen and some space”.
Advertisement
“I think they should go through, both of them”, Wenger said of the Mustafi and Perez transfers after Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Watford.
