Wenger heaps praise on match-winner Welbeck

Mark Bryans 05:48 15/02/2016
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  • Crucial intervention: Danny Welbeck.

    Arsene Wenger was full of praise for match-winner Danny Welbeck as the Arsenal forward came back from 10 months out to keep Arsenal in the title race with a last-gasp goal against 10-man Leicester.

    The England international has been missing all season after a serious knee injury but came off the bench to rescue a win for the Gunners, who moved to within two points of leaders Leicester with the 2-1 win.

    “You know Danny Welbeck, he is a great guy, with a great mentality. He worked extremely hard. That is why he is fit,” Wenger said. “In the last two days he was convincing in training. I planned at the start, when I made my press conference on Friday morning, to play him next week. But in the last two training sessions he was very strong and I decided just in the end to include him in the squad.

    “It was a great decision because Danny Welbeck is a great player, and you never know in our job, if somebody else had come on, would he have scored or not? But everybody is extremely happy for him, because he has been out for 10 months, that is an eternity for a player.”

    Jamie Vardy had put Leicester on course to be eight points clear of Arsenal and Wenger admitted afterwards that he would have feared the worst if his side had not hit back.

    “A loss today would have been massive, yes,” he said. “Even after that you get all the negative vibes, the belief goes down, it would have been much more difficult. We would not have given up, but eight points is three games to come back. We would need to win three, they would need to lose three.”

    Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri said he and his players were left “very sad” by the result and was unhappy with referee Martin Atkinson. Asked how his players were feeling, he said: “Very sad. Me too.

    “My reaction is to laugh with you because I am strong and I want my players to follow me. If I think about the match I am very angry because I think maybe I make mistakes but an international referee gives two yellow cards for normal fouls and the match was full of fouls.

    “I remember the first half when we scored and there was a bad tackle from Aaron Ramsey and it was a yellow card but it is not the same yellow card when Simpson stopped the other player. But I am very proud of my players. They gave a fantastic performance.”

    Ranieri also revealed he has given his squad a week off, with no FA Cup commitments next weekend.

    “It’s the same as if you won the match. ‘Go home, and we will see you next Monday’ because they deserve it. They made a fantastic performance today. They go, I don’t know where, Dubai maybe. They go wherever they want.”

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