Football
ESPN staff 9y

Arsene Wenger praises Arsenal's creativity after away win at West Ham

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he believed his side were worthy winners after a Santi Cazorla penalty and a Danny Welbeck goal clinched a 2-1 victory at West Ham.

The Gunners went into the break two goals ahead and, after West Ham had pulled a goal back through Cheikhou Kouyate, saw several chances to re-establish their two-goal cushion go begging.

Wenger told his postmatch news conference: "We deserved to win the game. It was a typical committed, direct game where we needed to be solid in the air and take our chances on the break.

"When they came back to 2-1, we had five or six chances on counter-attacks that we couldn't take -- but overall everybody did the job very well, from the keeper to up front."

He said he believed Arsenal could once again finish in the top four, explaining: "I have always had that belief, but it's far from done. It is vital for us.

#INSERT type:image caption:Wenger said Arsenal 'always looked dangerous' at West Ham. END#

"We have done it for 17 years, so we are entitled to the belief that we can do it. It's all to do because, when you look at the league, everyone is fighting very hard for it.

"We just want to win the next game and be consistent in our performances. If you look at our recent results, we look to be more stable. We have a big game in front of us now against Southampton."

Wenger praised the creativity shown by his side, saying: "We always looked dangerous. We couldn't finish the game off, but that was down to the quality of their goalkeeper [Adrian].

"Overall, we created a lot of chances. We knew before the game that we had to dig deep to win, because we were a bit jaded -- but we did that."

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