Arsene Wenger defends selection against Wigan Athletic
Arsenal’s French manager Arsene Wenger believes a draw against Wigan Athletic at DW Stadium is a good result.
The Gunners’ are now one of the contenders to claim Barclays Premier League title after beating http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 on Monday night. However, the French boss of Arsenal thinks that it is good to get a point against the side which is battling relegation zone.
‘The Professor’ was adamant he was right to make wholesale changes to Arsenal team against Wigan Athletic, despite missing out on the opportunity to go level with Manchester United and Manchester City after being held to a 2-2 draw.
Arsenal finished the first half in the lead. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nicklas-Bendtner-c27726 scored for the visitors. However, a late own goal from Sebastien Squillaci brought things level again. Despite having one-man advantage in the last few minutes, Arsenal failed
to find the winner and had to settle for one point.
Arsenal manager made eight drastic changes to the team that crushed Chelsea by three goals to one, two nights ago at Emirates Stadium. But Wenger claimed that it was necessary to freshen up his team.
‘The Professor’ said that there is no rule about making the changes in the team but he explained that Arsenal have a disadvantage.
The Frenchman said, “Wigan played three days ago, we played 48 hours ago in a big game and in the evening. I had to change because we play again Saturday, we play again Wednesday, we play again the Saturday and again the Tuesday so we cannot play always
with the same team. But I don’t think that was a problem at all.”
Although not wishing to blame the draw on his team selection, Arsenal manager did admit that dropping two points was a blow to the his team’s title ambitions.
Wenger added, "They caught us a bit off but after that we came back into the game. In the second half we didn’t do enough, we conceded two goals from two set pieces and credit to them, they didn’t give up, they fought for every ball and I thought we tried
very hard. The pitch became more difficult to put passes together as well, they defended deeper than in the first half and it was more difficult for us to find space."
Wigan Athletic defeated Arsenal at DW Stadium late last season when the Gunners’ title ambitions were crushed by Latics. Arsenal were leading the match by two goals when the home side made a late comeback and scored three goals in 10 minutes to beat the
Gunners.
However, Arsenal manager was not so sure that the latest setback at DW Stadium would be expensive for his side.
Wenger continued, "Maybe [it will be costly], we’ll see after the season, they did fight very hard today. In the first half we had a great dominance, we came back but in the second half we didn’t produce enough and didn’t offer enough.”
Arsene Wenger also admitted that the draw against Latics could be seen as a good result since other teams in the league were also dropping points which was helping their cause.
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