Cazorla & Ramsey score as Arsenal beat Liverpool to open up five-point lead atop EPL table
Arsene Wenger is convinced his Arsenal side now possesses sufficient consistency to challenge for trophies at home and abroad.u00a0Much has been made of the fact that the Gunners have not won anything since 2005 but, following Saturday’s 2-0 home victory over Liverpool, they are currently five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
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Aaron Ramsey (right) scores Arsenal’s second goal against Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium. Pic/AFP
Their credentials are set for a thorough and instant testing however as on Wednesday they travel to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, having previously lost 2-1 at home to the Germans, and on Sunday they are back in Premier League action at reigning title-holders Manchester United.u00a0“It was important to convince people we can win these big games,” Wenger said of the Liverpool success.
“And that we did it in a convincing way is even more important. I believe nobody would dispute that we deserved to win this game.u00a0“We have have plenty of other big games coming up and this will help us to deal with them. It’s down to consistency and we have been consistent since the first of January 2013. Ten games and 25 points is a respectable number.”
Santi Cazorla gave Arsenal a first-half lead before Aaron Ramsey made it 2-0 just before the hour mark with his 10th goal of a very impressive season and the Wales midfielder made it clear he was ready to maintain individual and collective high standards, starting at Dortmund on Wednesday.
Mind the gap
“It was very important to get off to a good start and we have a nice gap now,” he said.u00a0“Hopefully we can maintain that over Christmas as we know our run-in form has been second to none over the last few seasons. If we get ourselves into a strong position in January we will have a very successful season.
We go to Dortmund now and we were very disappointed with how we lost to them. It was a very sloppy goal when we were in control but we got a good result in Germany last season against Bayern Munich.u00a0“So we have been there before and are used to the atmosphere there and hopefully we can get a good result.”
Injury worries
Arsenal have some injury concerns to mull over however, with midfielder Jack Wilshere missing the Liverpool match with an ankle injury and left-back Kieran Gibbs forced off with a calf problem.u00a0
Liverpool had their moments, with Luis Suarez hitting a post and Jordan Henderson having a goal controversially ruled out when Arsenal were leading 1-0.
Referee Martin Atkinson had ruled that Suarez had taken a free-kick without his permission as the official had been keen book Bacary Sagna for the initial foul.
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