Arsenal put their matchday one woes behind them in the Champions League on Tuesday night, sealing a more than comfortable 4-1 win against Galatasaray at the Emirates. The man of the night was Danny Welbeck, who scored his first career hat-trick, with Alexis Sanchez scoring the other goal. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect night for the Gunners was the red card given to Wojciech Szczesny just past the hour mark. Arséne Wenger was more than happy on the night he celebrated his 18th anniversary of taking charge at Arsenal, namely impressed by Danny Welbeck.
Wenger on Welbeck, Szczesny and Cesare Prandelli:
"Danny was on the end of good movements tonight and we had good pace in our game. Of course it’s good to see that he’s slowly gaining confidence and finishing well. It’s nice to see the potential is there and he’s starting to get there - hopefully that hat-trick will help him gain confidence. It always helps to know that you have a good chance to play in the next game. What’s good for me is that his link play is good as well. His teamwork and his work rate is at the level of the team. His attitude is very positive - he’s a team player, not just a finisher. He has learned that on the flank and he wants to help the team."
"I like Fatih Terim (former Gala manager). We had good connections in our meetings. He’s doing a good job now for Turkey. It’s difficult to compare the two teams. I believe that our game in Turkey will be much more difficult because I feel there is some talent in the team. I have a lot of respect for Prandelli and he will learn about his team."
"We lost the ball, an unnecessary mistake in our own half, and after that it was a through ball. I saw Szczesny coming out and I thought he may have read the situation well. He tried to come out and was fraction late so he conceded the penalty. It can happen. I think the fact is that we’re more guilty of losing the ball in our own half - it can be dangerous and we didn’t defend too well on that front."
Danny Welbeck was delighted with his hat-trick, but was putting the team first:
"He's given me the chance to play up front in my preferred position. I'm going to do everything that I can to make sure that he's happy. This is my first career hat-trick. I'm playing up front and trying to score goals and getting into goalscoring positions - tonight it paid off."
"The most important thing was we got our three points on the board. We needed that after the first game in the group. We've set the benchmark now and we've really got to try and grow on that positive win. From now on we want to get three points in every single game."
Per Mertesacker, who captained the side on the night, praised the performance, labelling it as 'almost perfect':
"It was almost perfect. I think in the second half we tried to relax too much, especially when we won the ball, and then we lost it immediately. That caused some trouble at the end as you could see with the penalty, plus we conceded one goal and a red card. I think that kept us alive, on our toes, and we tried to finish that off. At the end we did well and I'm pleased with the performance, especially in the first half."
"Obviously it's a good lift before the Chelsea game. We've got good confidence at the moment and will try implement that into the game on Sunday. We know we can do better than the two consecutive seasons there before and I think we'll try new things on Sunday to get a better result than last year."
"Danny is the main threat at the moment, especially on the counter-attack. We have players who can put him in the right situations and that is what we need to find ourselves. It took a bit of time but I think now we are on the spot and we see what it takes to be a team and to be fully integrated."
Cesare Prandelli held his hands up and took the blame for the heavy defeat for his new Galatasaray side:
"I take responsibility for the defeat. We're trying to implement a new system. In the 2nd half we reverted to what we knew. It wasn't a great performance. Unfortunately the defenders played a bit wider than I expected and Melo had to play one against one. We will find a system the players believe in. Sometimes the messages I give might not go through to the team, but I believe we have very good players and we should be able to show our qualities. Our first-half performance was negative. In the second half, there was a little tactical change and we started to play with more width. Thus, they felt comfortable. We'll gradually decide on our ideal formation."
The next game in the Champions League for the Gunners is a trip to Belgium to face Anderlecht, who currently sit bottom of Group D after a heavy defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund. Galatasaray now face Dortmund at Telekom Arena in two weeks time, and will be looking to bring Dortmund back down to earth after two 'perfect' games for Jürgen Klopp's side.
