English Premier League news, Arsene Wenger hails Johan Djourou as Hughes remains optimistic
Arsene Wenger has come out and praised Arsenal’s central defender, Johan Djourou after his brave performance against Fulham on the weekend.
Arsenal won against Fulham by two goals to one and thus they cemented their progression to the summit of the English Premier League table. Nasri was the scorer of both of the goals for Gunners but it was Djourou, who kept it together at the back, at the
end of the match.
Wenger said, "He is doing very well, Johan. You know, he has been out for a year. As you have noticed, I rotate him a little bit because we do not want to lose him. A guy who has been out a year, you cannot play him three games per week. But, from the start
of the season, he is as well going from strength to strength. In the difficult period of our team - when we had to defend in the air - he was dominant. And he has not only shown dominance, but personality as well. That's why I'm happy”.
The Frenchman further elaborated on Djourou’s time at the London club as he said, "He came here as a midfielder and we transformed him into a centre-back, and I believe he can be a very good centre-back".
The Swiss defender has had different partners in the centre of defence for Arsenal this season as at first it was Thomas Vermaelen and now it is either Koscielny or Squillaci. However, the young defender is a favourite to start Arsenal’s next match, which
is against Partizan Belgrade, in mid-week of the UEFA Champions League.
Wenger went onto say, "The players know that, from game to game, we rotate and everybody will have to start in our squad". He also spoke about the game against Fulham as he said, "We finished the game with (Theo) Walcott on the pitch, Nasri on the pitch,
(Andrei) Arshavin on the pitch, (Robin) van Persie on the pitch, (Marouane) Chamakh on the pitch. We had five strikers on the pitch so I expected to suffer a little bit on the corners. Overall, I believe in the second half our defenders dealt well with the
high balls".
It was a good win for Arsenal but on the other hand it was a disappointing loss for Mark Hughes’s Fulham side. Nonetheless, the former City manager is positive even after losing all three points against Arsenal on Saturday.
Hughes said, "I thought there were some really good performances. Simon Davies did really well; he gave us a good option on the right - probably his best game for us for a number of weeks. Dickson Etuhu was obviously very strong in those midfield areas,
and 'Joe' Kamara obviously took his goal really well and could've had another one".
Speaking about his team’s injury problems, Fulham’s manager added, "Hopefully we'll start getting players back. Carlos Salcido hopefully will be back next week; Moussa Dembele might be an option for us, so that will help us".
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