Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said his team had
come close to perfection after watching them mark
his 20th anniversary with a 3-0 win over Chelsea
on Saturday.
Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil scored
in the first 40 minutes as Arsenal claimed their
biggest win over Chelsea since April 1997.
It was Arsenal’s first win over Chelsea in the league
since October 2011 and it saw them climb to third
place in the Premier League table, while Antonio
Conte’s beaten visitors slipped to eighth.
“It was an outstanding team performance,” Wenger
told the BBC at the Emirates Stadium.
“We played with spirit and collective pace and
movement. Always in a positive and committed team
way.
“Ideally you want the perfect game and you never
get it. We got nearly the perfect first half and that
is not bad.
“Football doesn’t care for history and the
anniversaries, just the result on the day. Today we
had a good performance.”
The only negative for Wenger, who was appointed
Arsenal manager in September 1996, was a first-
half knee injury sustained by midfielder Francis
Coquelin, which saw Granit Xhaka come on.
“We lost Coquelin and Xhaka came on and straight
away he is at the level of the game,” Wenger told
Sky Sports.
“It (Coquelin) is a knee problem — the same problem
as last year. I hope he is not out as long as last
year.”
For Chelsea manager Conte, it was a third successive
league game without victory following a 2-2 draw
at Swansea City and a 2-1 home defeat by
Liverpool.
“I think that we didn’t have the right attitude from
the first minute,” Conte said.
“After today we are thinking we must work a lot
because we are a great team only on paper.
“It is always a team problem rather than
individuals. When nothing works it is very hard for
a player to play well.
“We have not got the balance and now is the
moment to consider everything. It is incredible to
concede three goals.
“We must have last season present in our mind
(when Chelsea finished 10th) to not repeat the
mistakes. We must reflect a lot to find very soon the
right way.”
