12th April, 2014
Arsenal coach, Arsène Wenger spoke to the British media after his side beat Wigan 4-2 on penalties in their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
A ssummary of what he said as reported on Arsenal website:
on his emotions after the game…
Relieved because we were under big pressure because I expected a difficult game and I was not disappointed. Wigan were impressive, well-organised, physically very strong, calm when they had the ball and they played very well. They have shown why they knocked Man City out in the quarter-final and we had everything a little bit against us for a while in the game. We needed to show some character and some resilience and as well some nerves in a very united and resilient way.
on reaching the final…
Yes that’s the most pleasing because everybody expected us [to] on that front. We have seen again today that it was a cup game and the difference between winning and losing is very, very small and this game has shown that again. But even if we had lost I would have said that we were at the mental level that I expected, and hopefully that win today will give us a lift for the end of the season.
on Everton going back to fourth…
I didn’t even know the result and I think if we win our games we will finish in front. For us it’s important now to focus on the Premier League and if we do that well I’m confident we will come back. On top of that we have a target now for the end of the season. We have a final in the FA Cup but we now have a period where we can concentrate on the Premier League.
on this win being a springboard for future success…
It’s important mentally that we didn’t go out tonight. If you imagine the consequences of going out tonight, it’s quite worrying. I believe we have a good team, we have many players out and this morning Oxlade-Chamberlain was still not sure to be available, Gibbs was not available, plus all the other players who are out. We have a good squad but recently we were missing too many players.
on Fabianski…
He did very well. I think he’s a good goalkeeper and he has shown that again today. During the game, even on the penalty they scored he went the right way. He’s quick and in the penalties of course he put us in quite a comfortable way and into a good position.
on whether he was saving Giroud for Tuesday…
Not really. He was a bit tired recently and he played many games. I thought that we needed some fresh legs.
.Arsenal will meet West Ham on Tuesday.
.Culled from Arsenal website