Arsene Wenger thrilled with Arsenal’s ‘outstanding’ football
Delighted gunners boss claims Robin van Persie is back in form after Dutchman nets first Arsenal hat-trick
Arsene Wenger hailed his side’s “outstanding” football after Robin van Persie’s first hat-trick for Arsenal helped the gunners cruise to victory over Wigan.
Van Persie opened the scoring after 21 minutes when he smashed his effort past Ali Al Habsi after being fed by Alex Song. The in-form Dutchman added a second just before the hour with a brilliant first-time finish after being found by CescFabregas’ searching pass.
Gunners striker van Persie then blasted a second-half penalty over the bar after Gary Caldwell had been sent off for pulling backFabregas, but he duly completed his hat-trick when he fired in from close range after Theo Walcott did well to hold up the ball.
Wenger, whose side have taken 14 points from the last 18, was delighted with his side’s display despite the hosts being unable to convert a number of first-half opportunities.
“The players were a bit frustrated because we did not take our chances but I felt in the first half we played outstanding football,” Wenger said. “We feel stronger and stronger in every single game.
“It is interesting the chance we have in front of us because we have an interesting game, the way we play is for me fantastic to watch. Let’s just keep going.”
And the Arsenal manager was full of praise for van Persie, who has now scored six in his last three outings. “He is back in form,” said Wenger of van Persie. “He was already fit and sharp last week and overall we had a good team performance so he could finish a hat-trick.”
Wenger also admits he has “no choice” but to rotate his team for the second leg of the gunners’ League Cup semi-final clash with Ipswich at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
“We will rotate, we have no choice,” added the Arsenal boss. “We play nine games in January, it’s the most we have ever played.
“When you look at the fixtures we had in December it means we need to rotate from game to game. But we have fantastic players on the bench and it is very important because we cannot always play with the same eleven.”
