Wenger hails Walcott, Welbeck for reviving Arsenal title hopes

“It was a mental test for us”, Wenger was quoted as saying by the Premier League’s website on Sunday.

After scoring the 95th minute victor with the last touch in a 2-1 triumph over the 10-man league leaders, England forward Welbeck, back after 10 months out with knee problems, was given an emotional tribute by his team mates.

“I give compliments to my players because it was the same performance as Manchester City”. We are the type of team who fight for each other, have each other’s backs, scrap and do what is necessary to try and help each other to try and get the three points. Why shouldn’t we bounce back? It’s hard to play against us, but it will also be hard to play against Norwich in the next match and the next match after that. In the first-half there was a bad tackle from Aaron Ramsey, it was a yellow card, but it is not the same yellow card when Simpson stopped the other player. We were relentless after that – we should have scored more goals.

“He was always integrated in the team but when you feature on the pitch and give the team such a great goal and energy, it gives himself a big lift”.

Arsenal next face Hull City in the fifth round of the FA Cup as they look to win the competition for a third successive year, before taking on La Liga holders Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League last-16.

Relegation candidates all of last season, Leicester is dealing with a different kind of pressure this time round but a failure to handle rising expectations wasn’t the reason behind the defeat at Emirates Stadium. And we took risks to win it. We knew a draw was not good enough.

WES MORGAN says the disappointment Leicester City are feeling after a late Barclays Premier League defeat to Arsenal is an indication of just how far they have come. We have to build our team for the next season and the next season, but this is our foundation.

“For us it’s not important now to think about whether we’re top of the league or not”, the Italian tactician added.

“We would not have given up, but eight points is three games to come back. In the end I trusted the impression I got from his training sessions, so we thought “OK, we’ll put him in”.