Wenger all praise for Burnley, as ‘lucky’ Arsenal jump to third in the table

Although Wenger said that he was unable to see the handball from the bench, he acknowledged the fact that his team was fortunate in victory. “I have not seen the winner but I have been told that we were a little fortunate,” he told BBC.

“I have not seen the replay of our goal and I did not see it go in from the bench, I invite you to sit on the bench to see. Maybe we were a bit lucky there. I was actually fuming about the short corner because I thought we were at the end of the added two minutes, so why not take a proper corner?”

Wenger did, however, praise Burnley’s Herculean effort and stated that many other teams would find it difficult to get a result at the Lancashire club, who have already claimed the scalp of high-flying Liverpool earlier in the season.

The long-time Arsenal manager compared Burney’s playing style to the ones of teams from yesteryear, stating: “When you come back here, you know what it is like to play football back in years past. Burnley defended very well and they looked from every corner as if they could score. Burnley are a tough team though, everyone will find it hard here.”

The Frenchman also put Sunday’s results in perspective, as Manchester City dropped points for the first time this season after losing to the Gunners’ cross-city rivals, Tottenham Hotspur.

“But the impact of the other results today on the morale of the team could have been negative if we had not won. With Manchester City losing, this was about closing the gap,” he remarked.

“If you want to win the League, you have to be efficient at home and win some away games. We wanted to win and knew it could be a big week for us and maybe we played with the handbrake and not enough freedom. It was down to Burnley doing well and us being a bit below our level.”