Wenger satisfied as young Gunners show maturity

ARSENE WENGER is recognised as one of the more intelligent blokes in football and has had plenty of practice of piling praise on his team but his reasoning for his young Arsenal side’s impressive start to the campaign is not complex.

After their loss at Fulham, the gutsy victory at the Reebok Stadium made it four wins in-a-row in the Premier League for Wenger’s side.

The manager said: “When you are 19 you are better at 20. When are 30 you are worse at 31. It’s as simple as that.”

In the past, falling behind to Kevin Davies’ goal might have knocked Arsenal out of their stride, but their response to going a goal down on Saturday was incredible.

They came up with a spell-binding 10 minutes in which Bolton werefortunate to concede just two goals and see Arsenal hit the post twice.

In Cesc Fabregas, Denilson, Alexandre Song and Emmanuel Eboue, Wenger was squeezing three central midfielders and a full-back into the central area yet their vision and movement were incredible.

They lost Gael Clichy after achallenge from Kevin Davies that saw the French defender rushed to hospital before receiving the all-clear after X-rays.

Clichy’s poor touch invited Davies’ lunge but the Bolton forward wason the ground and seemed to hurtthe Frenchman with his follow through.

Fabregas related the tackle to Eduardo’s broken leg last season, and Kolo Toure talked about the ‘treatment’ they had received from their hosts.

While they could have demonstrated a bit more maturity with their comments, Wenger feels confident enough to predict his team could go all the way this season.

“This team has learned and improved from last year,” he said. “We want to fight at the top. We want to win the championship and the Champions League. We have quality and we are hungry and we have a good spirit. If you don’t win, you get hammered anyway!

“The pleasure for me is exactly the same as it is for you. Collective sport is fantastic if people don’t transform it into a individual sport. It becomes magic if the team play as a team.

“I’m not a golf fan but I like to watch the Ryder Cup because it’s a team sport. There’s something more to that that makes it beautiful to watch because of the collective unit and collective spirit. Suddenly you’re more interested and when a team respects that it’s a joy to watch and I enjoy that as well.”

Opta Fact: Emmanuel Eboue scored his first Premier League goal in his 71st appearance.

Opta Fact: Kevin Davies has been booked in five of his last six league games against the Gunners and his overall tally of nine bookings when playing the Londoners is more than against any other club.