Arsène Wenger praised his players’ “mental desire” after Arsenal closed the gap in the Premier League title race with an enthralling 2-1 victory over the leaders, Leicester City here on Sunday.
A keenly fought and, at times, controversial contest appeared to be heading for a draw until the fifth minute of second-half injury time when Danny Welbeck, on as substitute and playing in Arsenal’s first team for the first time in 10 months after knee surgery, glanced Mesut Özil’s free-kick past Kasper Schmeichel to spark bedlam among the home supporters.
Welbeck described the goal as a “beautiful moment” and his manager said it was pivotal to his team’s chances of being crowned champions for the first time in 12 years. Arsenal remain behind Leicester but have cut their lead to two points.
“This was as well a mental test for us, because to find yourself down 1-0 at half-time to a team who defends so well, you need to keep going,” said Wenger. “We came back with relentless energy and took the risks to win it. We knew a draw was not good enough. It paid off down to the mental desire of the team to give absolutely everything to win. [This result] will strengthen our belief that we are in the fight [for the title].”
Paying tribute to Arsenal’s match-winner, Wenger said: “Danny Welbeck is a great player and everybody is happy for him because he has been out for 10 months – that is an eternity for a player. He worked extremely hard. That is why he is fit.”
Claudio Ranieri was angry with the manner of what was only Leicester’s third defeat of the league season, and second to Arsenal. The Italian felt the referee, Martin Atkinson, made a mistake in showing two yellow cards to Danny Simpson, which led to the full-back being sent off in the 54th minute, and for allowing Arsenal’s winner to come about given only four minutes of added time were meant to be played at the end of the match. By that stage Theo Walcott, also on as a substitute, had equalised for the hosts with a close-range finish on 70 minutes.
Ranieri, however, praised the “outstanding performance” delivered by his team, who took the lead through Jamie Vardy’s penalty at the end of the first half which he won in contested circumstances. The striker, who now has 19 league goals this season, was undoubtedly on the receiving end of a clumsy tackle from Nacho Monreal, but the manner in which he fell to the ground having kicked the full-back’s challenging leg somewhat understandably left the home spectators raging at the referee. Wenger claimed the penalty was “not obvious at all”.
Leicester were typically resolute, no one more so than Schmeichel and the excellent N’Golo Kanté, and despite coming under an expected onslaught from the hosts in the closing stages after being reduced to 10 men they appeared to have earned a draw which, following wins against Liverpool and Manchester City, would have strengthened the belief they can go on and win a first top-flight title.
“Our fans are proud of us because we are doing something special and I want our players to continue in this way, to fight,” said Ranieri. “They lost but that’s football. But I’m proud because they play with force, with soul, they help each other. It’s fantastic what they are doing.”
With Leicester not involved in next weekend’s FA Cup fifth round, Ranieri has given his squad the next week off, while he will spend that time in London and in his native Rome. The leaders face Norwich at home on 27 February while Arsenal take on Hull in the FA Cup and Barcelona in the Champions League before a league visit to Manchester United.
“We are conscious we have some big games to come up,” said Wenger. “It is down to how much energy can we put into every game.”