Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has praised the spirit of his team after their stunning 4-3 victory over Leicester City on Friday night.
“Overall I must say we kept going and the spirit of the team was absolutely outstanding,” he said in his post-match interview.
“You could see that this team has quality and is used to playing together, but (we had) 70 per cent possession with 27 shots on goal. Leicester had three shots on target and scored three goals, so that shows you how efficient they were.”
Defensive questions raised
Despite scoring four well worked goals, questions were asked on the Gunners' defence, which at one point as made up completely with full backs.
“Well if you were a manager and you would be on the bench when you’re 3-2 down with 20 minutes to go, and you win 4-3, you’re more happy than concerned.
“I feel as well that the goals we conceded, we can work together to get rid of that. We were quite good last year on corners and overall I believe that with a bit of work we can get that out of the system.”
Ahead of the Leicester City fixture, Arsenal had only won their first fixture of the season once in the last six season, and this gives added importance to their victory.
Opening the new Premier League season meant all eyes were on the gunners, and they were given the perfect start after just two minutes thanks to record signing Alexandre Lacazette’s header.
Gunners fight back
However Arsenal found themselves 2-1 down after half an hour thanks to a close range header from Leicester striker Shinji Okazaki and tap in from Jamie Vardy.
Just as it looked as if they were to trail into the break, Daniel Welbeck’s open goal finish brought them back into the game in added time. However just eleven minutes into the second half, Jamie Vardy headed home unmarked from a corner.
This prompted a double substitution from Wenger to try and turn the game around, and they did just that. First, Aaron Ramsey’s driven finish after a fantastic outside of the foot pass from Granit Xhaka levelled the scoring after 83 minutes, and then just two minutes they gunners were in-front, as Olivier Giroud powerfully headed home from a corner, after out-muscling Leicester debutant Harry Maguire.