Wenger admits Arsenal lucky to win

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger acknowledged his team were fortunate to defeat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park on Wednesday.

The visitors from north London led from the eighth minute of the English Premier League match, through a goal from centre-back Thomas Vermaelen.

Everton fought their way back into contention, and had a Royston Drenthe goal harshly ruled out for offside.

“I thought that if we scored the second goal then maybe, we could (have) given a psychological blow to Everton,” Wenger said.

“We had a brilliant start and slowly Everton came back into the game after about 30 minutes, we could feel that in the last 15 minutes of the first half.”

“Second half, for the most we did hang on, until the last 15 minutes we started to create chances again, but it was all Everton.”

Wenger said his team displayed a defensive solidity they have often lacked at times this season, proving they have the ability to shut out opponents.

“We were resilient, focused, with a great desire to defend and our defence played very well tonight,” he said.

“You’ve seen a side of us that people don’t know.”

“I think it’s good that we can do that as well, we didn’t panic, we defended well on crosses which is usually not our strong point and that’s good for us.”

With immediate rivals Tottenham Hotspur drawing 1-1 at home to Stoke City, Arsenal are now up to third on the table, an impressive turnaround following their dire start to the league season.

“I was always optimistic, because if you look at our results from October onwards we had only one bad spell,” he said.

“We lost three games on the trot, because we had no full-backs and the attitude of the team was always good, so I felt we could bounce back.”

“That shows you that things change quickly in this league and so that’s why for us it’s vital to keep our focus.”

Everton manager David Moyes was highly critical of the assistant referee who appeared to incorrectly rule out Drenthe’s strike.

“There are five which are onside, five decisions, I’ve checked,” he said.

“It’s a goal. We’ve had a sore deal the last few games, we’ve had really poor decisions against us. But it was the assistant tonight who got them wrong.”

“It’s cost us in the end, cost us trying to get something back after a disappointing start.”