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22:40 GMT, Wednesday, 4 November 2009

Wenger praises 'special' Arsenal

Arsene Wenger believes his Arsenal side are capable of producing "something special" this season after their 4-1 Champions League win over AZ Alkmaar.

The Gunners turned on the style in a home win that all but seals their qualification from the group stages.

And Wenger said: "Let's keep this attitude and spirit and we can deliver something special.

"I've said that for a long time and we want to show that. I just want to go from strength to strength."

Cesc Fabregas grabbed a brace to add to Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby goals to earn Arsenal a 10th home win of the season out of 10 games.

And it means the Londoners, barring an unlikely combination of results, will reach the knockout stages for the seventh successive year.

"(The players) have a fantastic attitude and great quality and great spirit," added Wenger. "I think the team looks more mature, serious when needed and patient."

606: DEBATE

" One of the best Arsenal performances I've seen "


The Arshavin Codex

That sentiment was echoed by opposite number Ronald Koeman, who was on the losing side against Arsenal for the first time as a manager.

"They have a lot of qualities but it's very young and maybe they miss a little bit of experience that other teams like Chelsea and Barca have," he said.

"One bad day and you can lose against everybody. It's not one team better than the rest - it's very close. But Arsenal can go a long way in this competition."

Wenger highlighted Andrey Arshavin - who had a hand in three of the goals - for special praise, saying: "He was outstanding. He gave the ball every time a fraction of the second you wanted him to give it and that is top quality.

"Our policy is to produce our own and add players of special quality and Arshavin and Thomas Vermaelen are good examples of that. I am not scared to spend money but what we want is to buy the players who have the needed quality to strengthen the team.

"I'll feel we have done something special when we win a trophy"


Cesc Fabregas

"It was a brilliant performance because we dominated our subjects technically, tactically and overall were never under threat. Overall I'm very happy."

However, two-goal hero Fabregas urged his team-mates not to take anything for granted until they were mathematically sure of qualifying from Group H.

"It is not definite so we'll have to keep working until the end," said the Arsenal captain. "Even if we had qualified today (Wednesday) we would have wanted to win and have gone for the six points. That is our mentality.

"It's just the beginning of the season, nothing is done, we want to keep going until the end.

"I'll feel we have done something special when we win a trophy.

"We want to win and if we win something at the end we will say we had a good year."




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Related to this story:

Arsenal 4-1 AZ Alkmaar (04 Nov 09 |  Europe )
Wednesday football as it happened (04 Nov 09 |  Football )
Wednesday's football photos (04 Nov 09 |  Football )
Arsenal hit by injury to Clichy (03 Nov 09 |  Arsenal )

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